Bending Destiny
by White Springs
Summary: After rescuing Makarov from Alvarez, during the fight with Ajeel, Lucy stumbles upon a red key. Suddenly controlled by a force she never felt, she opens it, and an explosion sends them to unknown places around the world... or is it even their world? The guild members suddenly find themselves in the middle of pirate wars, and must find a way to go back home before it's too late.
1. Red Key

_Note: This takes place right after Team Natsu rescues Makarov from Alvarez and Ajeel attacks them - before Laxus arrives to save the day. (Fairy Tail), and during the Battle of Marineford (One Piece), immediately after the escape from Impel Down happened. Since this is a fanfiction, needless to say that I'll make changes to the story to fit the plot, and any plotholes will be explained later on - so please, be patient, first chapters rarely ever manage do fill in every single blank - nor should they. I'll try my best to make it worth your time :)_

 _This is my first crossover fic!_

 _Hope you all enjoy it! Feedback is always welcome :)_

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The power blast was amazing.

Wendy watched as the member of the Spriggan 12 prepared to attack, looking unconcerned at their group, while Lucy stardressed to Scorpio's form and Natsu and Erza both powered up. The sky dragon slayer herself summoned the air around her, while silently casting supporting enchants on all of them.

The clash happened fast, and as Ajeel summoned a rather huge amount of sand monsters, Natsu and Gray launched counterattacks.

Lucy was about to attack, too, when one of the sand monsters Natsu blew away dropped a red key on her feet. She grabbed it, feeling a huge amount of power coming from it, and noticed a weird symbol on it.

"A red key?" She inquired, analyzing it.

 _ **"Tenryuu no Hokkou!"**_ Wendy startled the stellar spirit mage by taking down a sand monster about to hit her. "Lucy-san, be careful!"

Lucy blinked twice to understand the situation, but her mind felt a little too light, and she couldn't really think straight.

 _ **"Open: gate of-"**_ Lucy started, and a huge magic circle formed beneath her. Wendy stepped back as she felt the magic coming from it – she had been getting better at sensing those things, or anything else that reflected in the air for that matter.

Ajeel stopped attacking and focused on the blonde, which made the rest of the Fairy Tail mages turn their attentions to her, too.

"Lucy?" Natsu called, frowning. "What are you doing"

"How did you get that key, brat?" Yajeel shouted, launching straightly at Lucy, while blasting a powerful sand attack that sent all the other mages away, including Mest and Makarov.

The attack aimed at her was visibly lethal, but Lucy didn't seem to notice it or mind it. Her eyes were focused on the red key as if she'd been hypnotized.

"Lucy!" Makarov shouted, watching as the sand arrow made its way towards her, and then exploded.

They all waited for the dust to settle, only to find Natsu standing in front of the blond mage, looking all the more enraged. Wendy sighed in relief, but Lucy was still acting weird. It looked as though she was trying really hard to remember something, or focus on something - or at least that was what Wendy thought of the scene.

 _ **"the sloth demon, Abaddon."**_ As she finally finished her sentence, both Natsu and Yajeel attacked each other.

What happened then wasn't clear, on even comprehensible, but it changed the mages' lives. The land exploded, creating such a loud sound and incredible visual that people from Alakitasia could hear and see its light. Sorano, waiting on the escape ship for them, felt the sea trembling and a shiver down to her bone. Zeref, watching from afar, not really seeing the fight but the land itself, retreated into a darkness that would later be the fairies very own enemy.

The Fairy Tail mages involved weren't able to react to the explosion aftermath. As it happened, Natsu only managed to pull Lucy and jump to the side, landing near Happy. Erza grabbed Wendy and Carla grabbed Gray, and as a coincidence, or maybe fate's decision, they all jumped towards the same place, landing side by side on the ground.

Still, the explosion was too much for them to escape. Mest was barely able to teleport himself and Makarov to the escape ship – even missing it and landing on the sea – and when the sound and the dust ceased, there was nothing where the fighters once stood.

Nothing but a scarf made of what looked like scales.

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* * *

• •

Lucy woke up to the smell of sweat and garbage, and the sound of loud and creepy voices. It was noisy, even noisier than the guild usually was, and they sounded a lot heavier and scarier.

Looking up, feeling dizzy and with a huge headache, she realized that she was in a cell, and the noises came from other cells, where prisoners were making a ruckus about her showing up out of nowhere. Some were asking her to strip, others asking for a key, some were just having fun with the noise. Very few were complaining that they were living one very crazy day.

She rubbed her eyes, confused, looking around into her own cell, but it was gladly empty and, to her relief, open. So apparently nobody was being imprisoned in the cell she had fallen into, to her luck.

"Where am I?" She asked to herself, looking at the red key in her hand only to find out, now even more surprised, that it had turned black.

"Hey! Princess! Let us out!"

"Yeah! Let's have some fun!"

"We'll be nice to ya'!"

Lucy tuned out all voices, focusing on the situation and looking around the place. There was a hole in the ceiling, too perfectly done to be from an accident. No, she could tell someone did that on purpose.

The open jail cell plus the hole lead to the easy conclusion that someone had escaped, and that the way out was upwards.

Looking for her keys, she grabbed the one she needed and focused, relieved that she could still feel her magic.

 ** _"Open, gate of the lamb, Aries!"_**

"I'm s-sorry!" The ever so gentle spirit appeared with her signature greeting line. She looked around in fear before turning to Lucy.

"Can you make me a staircase?" Lucy asked, ignoring the surprised prisoners. She didn't need to be a genius to guess that none of them were innocent, if their dirty words were anything to go by.

Aries nodded and made a wool staircase towards the ceiling. Lucy climbed it fast, with the spirit behind her, and they reached the upper level.

... where she almost froze to death.

"How the hell is there snow here?!" She protested, hugging herself as the cold hit her, "the level below was hot as hell!"

"L-Lucy-san, did I do good?"

"What... Yes, Aries, thank you. You can go," she said with a smile, closing Aries' gate and opening Virgo's in sequence to ask for warm clothing.

Once that was provided, Lucy closed her spirit's gate and, now in warm winter clothes, tried to figure out her situation.

She remembered finding a red key in the middle of the battlefield and picking it up. It made her feel lightheaded, weird... as if she were, for a moment, a stranger in her own body. Then, she opened the gate, even though she had no clue of what gate that key was supposed to open in the first place...

And then the world exploded, Natsu grabbed her, and they fell.

How did she end up in a jail cell underground alone?

Just as she started walking again, she heard light steps coming from behind her - and then she heard howls.

• •

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• •

The battlefield was one messy and explosive place. Pirates and Marines fought one another until the very last breath, and neither side seemed to gain advantage over the other. Whenever a shichibukai made an attempt on one of the big figures – Whitebeard or his division commanders – another strong pirate would block them. Not only that, but the group shielding Strawhat Luffy also proved to be quite the challenge. Strawhat himself struggled through the battlefield, intent on getting to his brother.

Ace watched everything from above. He watched as his old man tilted the entire island – even the sea – to one side, causing the city to crumble and many marines to lose their balances. Even some pirates, the ones who arrived with Luffy, slipped and fell left and right.

The platform he was held at, however, remained unharmed, as the three marine admirals finally moved, keeping anything from hitting that place. After that, the wall Ace heard them talk about so much finally rose, closing them in and shutting the pirates out of view.

Just then, something fell heavily behind Aokiji, making a crumbling noise on the ground.

"What the hell?!" A marine officer shouted, turning to see what had happened. Aokiji, as well, turned to see what had crashed behind him, and Ace tried to see from his spot on the platform, but the admiral was blocking his view.

"Oh..." Aokiji's ever so calm voice reached his ears, "it is a girl." He commented, and now even Akainu turned around to see what he was talking about. "A little girl and a cat."

"Have you been drinking, Aokiji?" Kizaru asked, also turning around and raising both eyebrows.

"O-Oi, should the three admirals be looking away from the battlefield like that?" A marine officer asked from a place below, sounding nervous. "The pirates are making a path through Oars!"

"It's a little girl with a cat indeed," Kizaru commented, while Akainu turned back around and melted the ice where the pirates were standing on. "I haven't seen her before in the battlefield, have you?"

"O-Ouch..." A female voice made Ace wish he could see the girl. She sounded young. "Where... What..."

She looked up, big, brown eyes facing Aokiji, and then they looked at her surroundings. The cat was safe within her arms, as if it was a plushie.

Her eyes widened when she heard the pirates and marines shouting and then saw the battlefield, with pirates struggling not to drown and to reach the platform.

"Girl, how did you get here?" Kizaru asked in a light tone.

"I... I don't know... Where..." She hesitated, and then looked up, to the platform where Ace was, as if she knew that there would be someone there.

Her eyes widened when she saw the guy on his knees with two men holding swords above him. From where she stood, she could see him, but he couldn't see her. Only blue hair that flew in the wind.

"Don't look at that, he's a criminal," Aokiji spoke, while Kizaru was forced to turn around to manage the situation in the battlefield as pirates approached again.

Just then, a pillar of water fell heavily in front of the three admirals, forcing Aokiji to turn back around, and making the girl jump back, startled.

"IT'S STRAWHAT LUFFY!"

"Girl! Get out of here!" Aokiji spoke, before he moved against the guy who landed on the place, holding a pillar in his hands.

Just then, the cat opened its eyes.

"Wendy?!" She spoke, looking up at her friend, then at the battle ahead of them.

Wendy stared at the entire scenario in awe. She couldn't for the life of her figure out where she was or what was going on. She knew it had to do with the key Lucy had found and the gate the blonde opened, but what happened after that was a mystery to her.

She knew, however, that she managed to fall into a battlefield, one of the likes she'd never seen before, not even during her time in Fairy Tail. There were hundreds of people fighting, killing, shouting war cries. And some seemed to use magic, others used only weapons.

She couldn't feel magic power coming from any of them, though, not even the man currently using ice to fight the kid.

"Wendy! We should leave this place," Charle told her, and she shook her head negatively.

"I can smell the sea all around us," she told the exceed, dodging a scrape of pillar that the boy had kicked all around. His body seemed to stretch and do very weird things, she noticed. "We can't go anywhere, and I don't know if we're close to any other islands, so it's dangerous to just fly off."

"This is dangerous, though!" The exceed protested, as they dodged something else. "What is going on here?"

Wendy looked up at the man, the criminal, in the platform. She could catch pieces of dialogues everywhere, enough to have an idea of what was going on.

"They're going to execute that guy," she told Charle, and she looked up as well. The guy's eyes were fixated on the elastic kid. "He's... I think I heard the word pirate used for his rescuers... I think he's a pirate. These guys..." She showed Charle the men who first talked to her, "they're something called Marines... I think they're the ones going to execute."

"And pirates want to save the guy? Aren't pirates evil?" Charle questioned.

Wendy shrugged. She had never seen a pirate before, there weren't many in Fiore.

"Gear Second"

Just then, the elastic guy's body seemed to change and he suddenly moved a lot faster, surprising both Wendy and Charle. However, one of the men who helped Wendy moved even faster, and managed to hit the guy.

Then she heard the words.

"Proceed," she looked above to see the two men holding the swords begin to lower them. The so called criminal widened his eyes, still watching everything, and Wendy had a strange feeling that something wasn't right.

She widened her eyes, but before the blades hit their target, something threw both executioners away from the guy.

"Wendy! This is dangerous!" Charle protested as a man made of sand suddenly clashed against a man dressed in a weird feathery costume. Just as she agreed and looked for a safer place, the elastic kid was stabbed in the shoulder by one of his opponents.

"Charle, something's wrong," Wendy finally spoke, leaving fear and confusion aside. She could figure out what happened later, right now she needed to survive, and make sure she didn't leave there with a bad taste in her mouth. Charle looked up at her. "They... Do they remind you of anyone?" She asked, pointing at the elastic kid, who, despite being extremely wounded, refused to stay back down, intent on saving the criminal guy... Ace.

She heard the name "Ace" yelled by many people, many pirates, all driven towards the guy.

"Now that you mention it..." Charle frowned, taking in everything "the kid's got the same stubbornness as our guild members."

"They're all fighting to save that guy... Ace," Wendy looked up, again dodging stuff that flew around the battlefield. Nobody targeted her - why would anyone target a young girl who'd done nothing against nobody? - and she could easily dodge anything thanks to her senses - they'd gotten better after a year of training. "They don't care about what happens to them, Charle... I don't think he can be that evil."

"Wendy! You can't just assume things!" Charle spoke, exasperated, knowing what was probably going on in Wendy's mind.

"Nobody evil has that many faithful friends!" Wendy spoke, now with more confidence. Just then, a ship suddenly appeared in the middle of the pirates' area, coming from below the ocean.

"Don't try to interfere!" Charle scolded Wendy then, "we're alone here, and look! They have a freaking giant carrying the ship, and a large mustache man that seems strong! Yet the Marines, as you called them, don't seem to be that much in a disadvantage either. We can't just pick a side carelessly! You're not Natsu!"

Wendy smiled, and Charle knew she picked the wrong words.

"Natsu-san wouldn't have waited enough to make sense of the situation," she agreed, looking up as a man spoke about making a move. "he'd have joined the fight right away."

 _True,_ Charle thought _, but that's not my point!_

"Charle, we're going up there," she looked at where Ace was, determined to do as she said. "I want to talk to him."

Charle nodded, ignoring the urge to point out that there were crazy strong people fighting and she was acting as if they weren't in danger. There was a man using earthquakes going up against one who used ice magic, as powerful as Gray's! It was just like Wendy not to care about that - she'd been under the influence of Fairy Tail for too long, Charle thought.

Charle flew her up, from behind the platform, so few people would see them. However, the two men standing up there did see them when they landed.

"Is she the girl Aokiji was going on about?" One of the men inquired, approaching her, unafraid. "Kid, this is no place for you, go back down!"

"Don't tell me she's in Whitebeard's crew too," the other man spoke to Ace, who turned his head around to face Wendy, seeing her for the first time. He frowned, surprised to see someone that young there. "The cat's a zoan type, too, apparently."

"Never seen her in my life, gramps," Ace told the man, and Wendy's eyes widened.

"He's the only brother I've got in this world!" At these words, Wendy's head changed from Ace's direction to the battlefield, and she saw the elastic kid in terrible conditions, in the hands of pirates who seemed to try and help him - against his will.

"Brother?" She repeated the word, looking back at Ace. Now everything made sense. "You're his brother?"

"The world's learned of that today already, don't act like a fool," he spoke to her in a cold voice.

"Hey! Don't be rude!" Charle scolded him angrily.

"He's too hurt, Wendy," Charle commented, looking at the elastic kid who couldn't seem to stay still. His recklesness and stubborness reminded Wendy of someone else, and she smiled at the thought. "They won't make it!"

"The cat's smart," the grandfather spoke before jumping down and attacking some pirates. Judging by everyone's reaction, he was quite legendary, Wendy noticed.

"Kid, I don't want to attack you," the remaining marine told her, and she sighed. "Leave the platform."

"Sorry, sir," she spoke in her ever so gentle voice, and that seemed to surprise both him and Ace, "I don't think he should die."

"O-Oi, kid..." Ace called, now staring at her, "don't be crazy! You'll die!"

Wendy smiled, and they both watched as the air seemed to get agitated around her.

"Charle. We're saving him!"

* * *

N/A: soooooo, I know there's too much dialogue here, but I tried to cut as much as I could. This chapter follows chapter 567 of One Piece, with slight changes so Wendy can meddle there. The story will pass from Fairy Tail's point of view in these next two chapters - and then shift to One Piece's characters point of view. I'll try to make it as entertaining as possible, and they will, of course, eventually meet.

I'm always open to feedback, so feel free to leave some. :)


	2. Sail Away

Hi! Thank you all for the answer I got on the first chapter. I'll keep this note short, explanations and proper thank yous are at the end of the chapter. Enjoy and please leave your feedback

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" _ **Vernier**_ " Wendy moved, faster than they probably expected, and suddenly she stood next to Ace. He looked from the battlefield to her once again, this time surprised, whereas the marine officer seemed more interested than troubled. "Everyone down there... they're fighting for him the way we would fight for one of our own," she spoke, and Charle nodded, still standing where Wendy had been before. "We can't ignore that, I can't... Anyone who's managed to conquer that many hearts and friends deserves to live." She said with so much conviction that even the marine seemed impressed.

"That's cute," he spoke, now approaching her, "but look at him, he doesn't feel the same way," he pointed at Ace.

"I shouldn't have been born," he muttered to himself, looking down, and Wendy saw tears falling, "I'm disgusting. Yet..."

"Yet they are all shouting at you not to give up," she told him with a gentle smile, just as a man who used something similar to fire magic attacked the mustache guy. Wendy's eyes widened when said man hit the old one, and Ace seemed to react to that as well.

"OLD MAN!"

"H-His wounds!" Charle covered her mouth, eyes wide in horror, and Wendy mirrored that reaction. "That guy can still move with all those wounds! That's unbelievable..."

"LUFFY!" Ace shouted again, and Wendy saw his brother, the elastic guy, approaching the stand. Just then, two marines arrived with swords, and were given the order to execute the pirate.

"STOP IT!"

The order bellowed by Luffy made Wendy cover her ears and cringe in pain, it was louder than anything she'd heard so far in the battlefield – almost as loud as a true dragon's roar – and as she covered her ears, she saw many marines falling down unconscious.

"The Emperor's will..." She heard someone speaking close to her. "That brat..."

"He did that?" She asked Ace, who seemed just as shocked.

"Shouldn't you be helping him?" Charle asked Wendy, who seemed more interested in watching the battle unfold.

The exceed could understand that. As far as battles were concerned, no matter how many they'd fought, nothing came close to that one. Every time it seemed like one side was finally gaining advantage upon the other, something crazy or unexpected happened to shift the tides. What was even more impressive was that, despite the fact that the mustache guy – Whitebeard, Wendy heard people calling him – was clearly the strongest among the pirates, and the leader of the charge, they were more focused on backing up Luffy.

Luffy himself moved through the battlefield, having people shielding and aiding him every time an enemy appeared in his path.

"Wendy!" Charle called again, but this time even she got distracted.

"He just cut the bricks and turned the entire thing into a path towards this place!" Wendy exclaimed, surprised, and Charle got herself distracted too.

"That idiot..." Wendy turned to Ace again.

"Why is your grandfather helping the people who want to execute you, Ace-san?" She asked, regaining focus.

"He's a marine. We're pirates."

"He's your family, though," Charle protested.

Wendy tried to imagine Grandeeney trying to hurt her, and it seemed like something so unrealistic that she couldn't even picture it. She couldn't grasp the concept of one's family trying to kill them. Not unless they were evil, and Ace's grandfather seemed to care about honor – if the stuff she heard him say were true, that is.

What was so honorable about ending a family member's life?

"It's not that simple," Ace spoke, and oddly enough, he didn't seem to bear a grudge against his grandfather's actions. He did seem worried about both grandfather and brother, though.

Luffy managed to take Garp down, while Ace and Wendy talked, and finally reached the platform.

"Ace!" Luffy spoke, relieved, ignoring both Wendy and the marine admiral there. Apparently, said man didn't seem to worry about Wendy either, since he made no move to get her – or maybe he just didn't feel like attacking someone looking so young and innocent unless he absolutely had to. He probably assumed she was just some kid. "Hang on, I've got the key..."

"Sengoku!" Someone shouted, and just then the marine admiral grew into a giant form. Wendy and Charle's eyes widened.

"He's like Master..." Charle spoke, just as someone broke the key to Ace's handcuffs.

"Damn it!" Luffy cursed, biting his thumb and preparing to fight.

"Kid!" Ace called her. "Get out of here!"

"If I break the handcuffs," she spoke, hurrying to his side, "can you fight?"

"What?! Don't be stupid! Just leave!"

"Sir, the girl is talking to Ace! Should we attack her?"

"Damn! She's a kid!"

"But sir..."

"I can make a candle key!" A man suddenly approached them, making a candle wall to shield them from Luffy's and Sengoku's fight. He opened his hand and indeed, a key appeared. "I can't touch the kairoseki though."

Wendy grabbed it and opened the handcuffs, just as the platform collapsed, sending them all down towards the ground.

"Charle!" Wendy called, just as Charle opened her wings and grabbed her. "Ace-san! Luffy-san!"

Ace and Luffy, however, landed unharmed, the first turning himself into flames, and the second being apparently really made of something elastic, making him invulnerable to falls.

Wendy landed next to them.

"ACE!" Luffy's smile at the sight of his brother standing made Wendy smile, too, even though she didn't do anything to help in the end. Around them, echoes of his brother's name were heard, from cheerful pirates.

"That's amazing, isn't it, Charle?" Wendy asked, watching the brothers fight in sync against the marines.

"They're just as noisy and messy as Fairy Tail," Charle commented, understanding why Wendy felt the urge to help them. "You didn't do anything, though."

"I didn't have to," she shrugged, just as Aokiji attacked Ace, who melted the ice.

"Kid! Get into that ship!" Ace landed next to her and pointed at a ship that looked like it smiled. Wendy fought the sickness that hit her just by the thought of getting onto that. "You'll be safe there!"

"They're all looking down on you," Charle scolded her. "You're just standing and watching!"

"There's a lot to watch though!"

"LISTEN WELL, THIS IS MY FINAL 'CAPTAIN'S' ORDERS-" they turned to see Whitebeard shouting, and Wendy saw Ace, along with almost all pirates, complaining about the final word. She had a glimpse of memory of when Master disbanded the guild and felt sorry for them. "EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU! STAY ALIVE AT ALL COSTS..."

"Do they really think they can get away?" Wendy turned around at that voice. She recognized it: the magma guy.

As they moved, to follow Whitebeard's orders, and as Ace said a final goodbye to him, the magma guy landed next to them, and did the one thing that would make Ace stay and fight.

He called them cowards, a failure.

"Ace-san..." Wendy called, worried. "You're too wounded..."

"Ace's vivre card..."

"NO!" Someone shouted, just as a magma fist aimed at Luffy. Charle flew, getting him out of the way in time, but Ace, not expecting that, had put himself as a shield.

The fist came right through his chest.

"ACE!"

" _ **Tenryuu no Hokko**_ " Wendy finally moved, and the air blast sent Akainu away, taken by surprise. She moved, as fast as Luffy did, towards Ace's fallen body.

"Get Luffy-san out of here, Charle!" Wendy shouted, watching as Luffy collapsed, his eyes, his expression, broken at the sight of his brother.

 _He's not dead yet!_

Charle nodded and flew away with him. She found a group of men shielding her from marine attacks, and flew towards them.

"Give Luffy-kun to me!" A blue, fish-looking man asked, and she nodded, landing him there. "Go get that kid! She needs to live, too!"

"She's helping Ace," Charle told him, before returning to Wendy, who fought marines away.

"What's up with that little girl?!" One officer complained, just as a blast of air hit him, sending him and a group of others away. "She's stronger than she looks! She can control the air!"

"Wendy!" Charle arrived, turning into her human form, hitting a few officers as well.

"Kid!" One of Whitebeard's pirates came to her aid. "Get out of here!"

"Not yet!" She turned to Ace's body.

As she knelt besides it, taking advantage of the coverage Whitebeard's pirates unintentionally gave her, she focused on the huge wound in his stomach.

" _ **Cure**_ ".

Wendy didn't know it at the time, but a series of events kept her, or her actions, from being seen by anyone. Assuming Ace was dead, the Marines moved to end the war, and enemies came from the sea. As the war unfolded, that young, overlooked girl, managed to heal the very reason the war started. Once he wasn't in immediate danger, she had Charle fly him away, covering him in a piece of cloth she found on the battlefield, probably belonging to someone who's body met an unknown fate.

She moved, too, only to realize that, as she spent time healing him, the war changed, a lot.

"Whitebeard-san!" Seeing the old man, now with half his head missing, she covered her mouth. Marines fell everywhere, pirates, too, and Akainu moved to hit her...

When a male's shout made him stop. A kid, not much older than Wendy herself, shouted.

For them to stop.

Akainu changed his target to the kid, and Wendy moved as well, ready to attack the admiral.

When sword blocked his attack, and Wendy stopped.

"G-Gildarts?" She frowned, seeing the man whose sword stopped Akainu.

No. Not Gildarts. He didn't smell like Gildarts, no matter how similar he looked.

"Red Haired Shanks!"

"I've come to end this war."

Wendy's eyes widened, as she watched, all around her, people stopping. How powerful could he be, if he could even stop the war with words?

He grabbed Luffy's strawhat, and Wendy watched as he threw it to a flying clown-looking man, ordering him to take it to Luffy.

 _So he's alive,_ she thought, relieved, thinking about moving to heal him, too. Where had Charle gone to?

Shanks, in the meantime, did, indeed, end the war, getting marines to retreat, and even the new enemies, whose leader's name seemed to be Blackbeard, retreated as well.

"Whitebeard, Ace, you'll leave the mourning of these two to us."

 _He's not dead, though,_ she thought, looking around for Charle, having trouble catching her scent with all the blood and sweat and death masking it.

"This war is finished."

It didn't take long for everyone to clear the battlefield, leaving only Shanks' crew and ship left, along with Whitebeard's body.

"Sir! Fire Fist's body is gone!" One of the crew members shouted, and everyone turned to him, surprised.

"E-Excuse me..." Wendy called, feeling suddenly shy and a little scared. They turned to her, only then noticing her presence.

Do I really look so weak and harmless?

"A kid?" One of them frowned. "Hey, girl, why are you here?"

"Ace-san isn't dead," she told them, and now even Shanks seemed interested. "He's alive."

"We watched him die. Don't say nonsense, girl..."

"Wendy!" Charle finally appeared in the sky, still carrying Ace. "I couldn't find a safe place, so I flew out of here and stayed above an ocean that people wouldn't sail towards. There are crazy sea monsters there!" She told Wendy while landing. Wendy uncovered Ace's body, and they all watched, in awe.

"His wound..." One of the crew members spoke, approaching the body. "It's gone!"

"He's still wounded inside," she told them, "the major burns are gone, so it's not lethal, but I couldn't do much more without being noticed," she explained, kneeling before him and placing her hands above the unconscious man. "I wish Luffy-san could have seen it, though," she murmured, before resuming healing him.

"Is she..." Shanks raised an eyebrow. "Hey, girl, what's your name?"

"Wendy, nice to meet you," she looked up with a gentle smile, while still working on healing him. After the year of training, her skills improved, and she got enough magic to heal him for longer, too.

"Wendy, how do you know him?"

"I don't," her answer seemed to intrigue the man, who raised his hand when one of his crew mates seemed about to speak. "I fell here in the middle of the war and saw everyone fighting to save him, so I wanted to help."

"That's reckless," someone said. "He could be evil, or he could hurt you... Most pirates would."

"I doubt that someone evil would have so many people willing to die for him, though," she commented, stopping the healing process and looking up. "I need to wait to see how his body will respond to the sudden healing before I finish, but he's not in danger anymore, so you can take him if you want..."

She looked at Whitebeard and sighed.

"Sorry I couldn't help him," she added, and Shanks followed her gaze.

"How can you heal people? What Devil Fruit is that?"

"Yasopp, I think we can question her later," Shanks spoke, eyes falling back on Wendy. "This girl managed to save the life of the reason this war started without any of the marines realizing it," he added, and right then, he looked even more like Gildarts to her. He looked dangerous, but honorable, and nice at the same time. "Carry Fire Fist to the Red Force, it's time we set sail, before anyone sees he survived!"

They quickly moved to obey the captain's orders, while Shanks turned to Wendy.

"What about you, girl?"

She shrugged.

"I need to find my friends. They fell around the world, too," she said, practical.

"We can take you to the nearest island" he offered, "it'll be troublesome for you to stay here."

Nodding, Wendy followed them onto the ship, falling to her knees the minute she boarded it.

"Whoa? Are you injured?" One of the crew members approached her.

"She's got extreme motion sickness, but she's fine," Charle assured them.

As the ship sailed away, the crew's doctor moved to check on Ace, stating, to everyone's awe, that he was, indeed, in no danger. His injuries were minor, and he would even probably wake up soon.

Wendy didn't know then, but what she did would get her one of the most powerful allies in the four seas.

••

* * *

••

"Do you know where we're going?"

"Aye!"

"Don't 'AYE' me! We've been flying above the ocean for a while now!"

"I am following the fish!"

"Happy!" Lucy sighed, looking down at the water, and wondering how crazy her situation was. After finishing moving up the prison, and dodging a few weird creatures here and there, she managed to leave. The prison warden had been gravely injured in an earlier breakout and most guards didn't even try to catch her – their morale seemed extremely low.

She found Happy in the third floor, about to get eaten by a prisoner, and they flew away from the prison together.

Impel Down, someone called it.

They'd been flying since then, without a destination in mind and with no idea of where they were.

"Can't you summon that compass to give us a direction?" Happy asked her.

"None of my spirits can fly!" She protested, and looked down. They couldn't swim, either. The water was filled with crazy sea monsters.

"Ah! Lucy! Look! An island!"

"What?" Lucy's eyes lit up and, indeed, she saw an island. "Let's land there, Happy!" relief flooded her veins at the thought of landing on firm ground. She had been worried that Happy would run out of magic and they'd fall in the sea full of monsters.

Without Aquarius to fight in the water, she thought, sadly.

"This place is scary," Happy complained, landing on her shoulder. She suppressed a shiver as she took in the place. It seemed deserted, there were a few ruins around, and not a single human soul.

They walked with caution, her hands steady on both her keys and whip, ready to defend herself if needed. She looked around for any sign of life, wishing she had a dragon slayer there with her: they could follow scents and sounds.

"Look!" Happy whispered, pointing to her side, "there's a castle! And I think there's someone walking in our direction."

She turned and focused, and, indeed, saw the shadow of a person approaching, but it was too far for her to see its features. Judging by the people in Impel Down, she didn't feel to eager to meet someone in such a creepy island.

"Should we run?" Happy inquired, sounding scared. "Natsu isn't here…"

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked the exceed, offended. "I can fight too!"

"Aye aye."

"Don't 'aye' me!"

"Aye!"

Muttering a series of curses towards the blue cat, she moved towards the moving person, and soon she could distinct his features – for it was a he. He had green hair, wore a waistband and carried…

"Three swords?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why so many?"

"Who are you?" He asked, looking at her, and she tensed. He pointed one sword at her. "If you're here to fight…"

"She's not-" out of the blue, a man came from behind a gravestone, carrying two swords on his back, and looking extremely shady and dangerous. Lucy fought the urge to walk away.

I'm a Fairy Tail mage! I don't run!

"Hawkeye," the green haired man growled. "What are you doing here?"

"This is my castle," he reminded the man. "The girl is no enemy. She's lost."

Lucy frowned.

"How do you know that?" She asked, suspicious.

"There is no ship on this island, and you don't have a bounty. You're not a pirate, or at least not a significant one. That means you're lost."

"How did she get here without a ship?"

"The cat can fly," he answered, surprising them all. "It's the second one I see."

"Second one?" Happy asked, surprising the green haired man. "So you've seen Charle?"

"If that's the white one's name, yes. There's a boat by the water west of here. Take it and leave."

"How rude," Lucy complained. "Where did you see Charle? Was she alone?"

He was already walking away, towards the castle.

"Hey!" She shouted, annoyed. "Wait!"

"Whoa, don't do that!" Green haired man stopped her when she moved to follow Hawkeye. "He'll kill you."

"I can fight if I have to!" She assured the guy, rushing past him towards Hawkeye, who stopped before entering the castle. "Where did you see Charle?"

"Did you hurt her?" That came from a surprisingly brave Happy.

Lucy sighed, seeing that he didn't show any intention of answering the question. Instead, she grabbed one key, wondering if she could use it…

 _ **"Open, gate of the twins, Gemini!"**_

The young twins appeared in front of her, surprising the green haired guy and getting no reaction from Hawkeye.

She did, however, get a reaction from him when they turned into her.

"We can't turn into him," they told her, in her voice. "He has… his energy, it's weird, it's strong."

It sounded like her voice echoed when she spoke.

"Interesting," Hawkeye spoke, "you show more promise than I assumed."

"Thank you, Gemini," sighing, Lucy closed their gate. "Did you hurt Charle?" She asked, now that the man decided to talk.

"I did not approach the white cat, nor the girl with her. They sided with the pirates in the war, though."

"Girl?" She repeated. "Wendy is with her then," she smiled, relieved to know that at least one person was ok.

"Sided with pirates?" That came from the green haired man. "What war?"

"It is being called the Battle of Marineford, or the Paramount War" Hawkeye answered. "Here," he reached into his cape and threw them a newspaper. After that, he walked inside. "You two are welcome to spend the night."

"We have to find Wendy and Charle!" Happy immediately told Lucy, who nodded.

"No way-" the green haired guy cursed, reading the paper. Lucy stood next to him to read it, too. It had a story about a war, two great pirates dying, and many other things she thought would make for a interesting novel.

She'd never think that could be real, though.

"Happy," she spoke, nervous, "I don't think we're in Earthland anymore."

They jumped when a pair of swords cut the newspaper into shreds.

"Hey! Watch it!" She yelled, "What's your problem?"

"I have to get that boat!" He spoke, running east, "I have to leave!"

"Didn't he say the boat was west of here?" Lucy protested, watching him run fast. "Hey! You're going the wrong way!"

He stopped and returned, now stopping before her.

"You." He spoke. "Guide me."

"We're sharing the boat then," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. He seemed about to protest, "or Happy and I can fly there and go alone."

He muttered something about women and annoying and navigator, but she couldn't hear everything. He did nod, so she didn't care about the rest.

"I'm Lucy, by the way," she introduced herself, walking west with him next to her.

"Zoro."

Soon, they were setting sail on a small boat, neither of them having a clue of where to go.

••

* * *

••

 _Author's note: So, I realize Wendy's part was minor, and no, I don't plan on making her useless - she's actually my favorite FT character. But I felt like showing her full power in the middle of a major war would ruin things in the long run - Wendy's got the appearance of a fourteen year old, and in a world where people look tough and scary, that makes her a wild card, because anyone would think little of her. It would be a bit of a waste to use it up so soon._

 _This is the last chapter that follows a manga chapter - from here on now, as much as I'll try to stay true to the past story, everything will be different in order to fit the fiction storyline. (For one, Ace'll be alive, so there's that)._

 _Finally, thank you, zombooka, for the lovely review and feedback. Hope you keep on reading and enjoy what's coming up :)_


	3. Find Me

"Say, why did you suddenly decide to leave?"

Silence.

"Do you want fish?"

More silence.

"Maybe he can't hear us, Lucy."

"Why wouldn't he hear us? He's not deaf."

"Maybe he's an idiot."

At that, Zoro threw Happy a look that showed just how well he could hear him. Happy hid behind Lucy in a flash.

"Do you think Wendy and Charle are ok?" Happy asked Lucy after some more time in silence.

"Of course. Wendy's strong, and they're Fairy Tail mages. They definitely are ok." She guaranteed Happy, although she didn't feel as confident as she sounded. Her hand touched the black key, now attached to her key-ring, and she felt no magic coming from it. It was just like a regular key. Why and how did it send them there, then? Why did it suddenly take control of her?

She had too many questions and no answers at all. She thought about summoning Crux to ask him for information, but decided to wait until they were in dry land and away from strangers – as much as Zoro didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd harm her, she'd rather not have Crux disclosing too much information in front of him.

"Mages?" Zoro finally spoke, snapping her attention back to reality, "That's not real."

"Of course it is! I am a mage!" She protested, showing him her keys. "Didn't you see Gemini?"

"Devil Fruit powers aren't magic," Zoro spoke back, "or so I've heard."

"Devil what?" She repeated, frowning, "I don't even know what that is."

"Are you saying you've eaten one without even realizing it? How stupid can you be?" He asked, genuinely curious, "although Luffy..."

Before he finished his sentence, he went silent and tense, and Lucy swallowed whatever answer she was about to give him. His entire posture changed at the mention of Luffy, whoever that was.

Suddenly, he punched the boat so hard that he made a hole in it.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Lucy jumped, startled, as water came in, slowly but still dangerous. "ARE YOU TRYING TO SINK US?"

His eyes widened just slightly as if he'd just realized something.

"This is bad," he spoke, and Lucy fought the urge to hit his head.

"DON'T SPEAK AS IF YOU WEREN'T THE ONE BEHIND THIS!" she settled for yelling while Happy flew around them shouting for help. Sighing, she reached her keys and grabbed the one she needed, "Open, gate of the lamb, Aries!"

He didn't react as surprised by the sudden appearance of a person this time – though Gemini hardly counted as a person. He did look annoyed.

"You're making us sink faster," he pointed out.

"Shut up! Aries, help us!" She begged, and the lamb girl complied.

"Wool blanket," Aries cast, and the entirety of the ship's floor was covered by a layer of wool that, surprising Zoro, the water couldn't pass through. They, along with Aries' help, removed the water remaining on the boat, and Lucy breathed relieved.

"Why did you get all noisy if you could do that?" He asked, now impatient.

"Because in order for the wool to remain here, Aries has to stay, and that requires magic, moron!" She still shouted. "If I run out of magic before we reach an island, we drown!"

"There's no such thing as…" he then froze. "Wait, there was sea water on all of us when you made that one appear," he spoke, pointing at a shy Aries.

"Yes, thanks to you!"

"Sea water doesn't make you weak?"

"What kind of question is that? It's just water."

"Devil fruit users can't touch sea water!"

"I'm not that! I told you, I use magic! See?" She showed him her hand, the one with Fairy Tail's mark on it. "I'm a Fairy Tail mage."

"That's a stupid ship name," he commented.

"It's not a ship!" She snapped again.

"Right, right. Man, you're noisy," he complained, lying back. "This wool sure is soft. I'm taking a nap."

Just like that, he fell asleep.

What a simple minded guy.

They sailed through the night, and Aries helped Lucy row until Zoro woke up and took the spirit's place. Sometimes, he'd look at her, impressed with her willpower. She didn't look like she could last that long doing that simple exercise.

"We're never going to reach anywhere like this," Lucy commented, tired, when morning came. She wiped a sweat off her forehead and stopped rowing for a minute. "My magic won't last more than a few hours, either."

"I'm sorry," Aries promptly apologized.

"If Gray were here he could make a path," Happy pointed out.

"Yeah, well, he's not here," reaching for a silver key, she opened the gate of her compass, Pyxis, and asked it to point them towards an island. Any island.

It took it longer than usual, and it seemed exhausted when it finally picked a direction.

"Thank you, Pyxis," she said with a kind smile before closing the gate. "Happy, can you see if we're too far from it?"

"Aye!" The exceed flew away while she and Zoro resumed rowing. After a few minutes, Happy returned. "We're not so far, I can see it after I fly for a while," he told her and she nodded, standing up.

"Star dress: Aquarius!"

"Whoa!" Both Happy and Zoro were impressed when she suddenly changed her outfit, to a blue one with scales. Her hair changed, too. "Why are you playing dress up?" Zoro asked.

"Magna Wave", she raised both hands, and a huge wave formed below them, raising the ship with it. "Hold on to something!" She instructed, and the wave pushed them forward so fast that they nearly fell off the ship.

They landed a lot closer to an island.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Zoro shouted at her, letting go of the ship's edge. "You almost threw us off the ship!"

"You did the same thing Aquarius used to do to us," Happy commented, flying above them, completely dry.

"It's not a ship, it's a boat!" She stated, ignoring the exceed "and I just brought us closer. I told you I can't keep the wool for much longer!"

"You look weak now, though," he pointed out and she nodded.

"Aquarius' form is the one that requires the most magical energy out of my star dresses," she explained, and took a deep breath. "Start rowing, I need to close Aries' gate."

They resumed rowing and, just as she ran out of magic and Aries disappeared, along with the wool floor, they approached the shore. They were close enough for Happy to carry each one of them, and they left the boat to sink.

"That was close," Happy spoke, after landing with Zoro. "Where are we now?"

"Some island on the Grand Line," Zoro answered, walking ahead. Lucy and Happy hurried to stay with him. "Don't follow me."

"Why would we? You have no sense of direction," Lucy stated, to his annoyance.

"I need to find the rest of my crew," he stated, "this has nothing to do with you."

"We need to find a friend of ours that, according to that swords guy, was in the same war as your friends' brother, so we're coming with you. He might have information on her," she stated stubbornly.

"We're not going anywhere without a ship and a navigator," he countered, looking around the small town. Some people seemed to recognize him and quickly move away in fear, and Lucy couldn't help but notice how they all whispered his name.

"You're famous," Happy commented.

"I'm a pirate, word gets around," he said in a simple tone.

"Somehow you manage to sound proud despite your humble words," she pointed out just as someone came running towards them.

"That voice! I knew it!" An orange haired girl stopped in front of them and threw her arms around Zoro. "Zoro!"

Then she punched him, hard.

"Damn! Nami!" He shouted, covering his head when she moved to hit him again, "what was that for?"

"It's really you! It's not some weird mirage from the Grand Line!" She stated in a cheerful tone. Zoro grumbled something that Lucy guessed was a curse.

Then Nami's eyes fell on the blonde, and on Happy, who rested on Lucy's arms.

"Did Sanji rub off on you or something?" She questioned, and Zoro gave Nami a very angry look. "Who are you?"

"The girl is looking for someone who was in the same war as Luffy," Zoro explained, and the mentioning of the war made Nami look sad. "I take it you've heard about Ace."

She nodded, tearful, and Lucy suddenly realized how much pain Zoro might have been in. To know that a friend was hurting and not be able to be there for them…

She thought about Natsu's pain after losing Igneel. He left before she could do anything, before she could tell him that she was there if he needed her.

"Do you have any idea of where he might be?"

"According to the papers, he disappeared after the war, and the marines wouldn't give more information. They probably don't want to increase their humiliation."

"Is there anyone we can ask?" Zoro insisted, getting angrier.

"I don't know," Nami shrugged, looking at the ground, "I asked around the village, but nobody knows anything. All they keep talking about is how Luffy is crazy and strong and how Whitebeard's era is over. Things are changing, and people aren't focused on the minor details of a war that had so many significant occurrences. Did you read the part about Red Haired Shanks ending the war?"

"Luffy's guy?"

Nami nodded.

"Can't we ask him?"

"How would we even reach a Yonkou?" She asked, not dismissing the idea though. "We don't have a ship, money, or a devil fruit user that could help."

"We can't do nothing!"

"What about asking the marines?"

"They can't tell people! And we can't just show ourselves to the marines, we're wanted people, remember?" Nami hit Zoro in the head before answering him. "I did manage to get a grisp of our location, though. We're not far from Water 7. If we could sail there, I could navigate us towards Sabaody again. Everyone might gather there, we did agree to meet in three days."

"We need a ship, then, right?" He asked, and she nodded. "Any ships at the port?"

"A few pirate ones, yes."

"What about an Eternal Pose to Water 7? Don't you need one of those?" He inquired, and Lucy wondered what an Eternal Pose would be.

Nami gave him a wicked smile and showed him what looked like compass needle inside a round glass, supported by a wooden frame.

"Got that covered," she assured him and they started moving towards the docks. Lucy had a bad feeling about that, and given the fact that they were friends and she was the unknown person, she figured that maybe she'd be better off staying behind.

Just then Nami turned to the blonde: "Our captain would probably invite you to come with us, he's friendly with everyone, so if you want to… You have a better shot of finding out what happened to your friend in big places like Water 7 or Sabaody."

Lucy nodded.

"She can help too," Zoro commented, and they walked towards the docks. When they approached it, he suddenly accelerated, eyes focused on one ship, the biggest amongst them all.

Nami smiled, watching as, one by one, the pirates on the ship fell into the ocean, as Zoro cut his way across it.

"Come on," she called Lucy, who watched impressed, and a bit scared. She felt sorry for the pirates, and a bit wrong for stealing their ship; "We're setting sail."

••

* * *

••

"Are we still too far from our destination?"

"We're five minutes closer than the last time you asked."

"That's five minutes too much! She can't handle that long in a ship!"

"We can't help it! We couldn't anchor even if we wanted to, there's only ocean around us!"

"Aren't you a navigator? Navigate us towards land!"

"That's what I'm doing!"

"SHUT UP!"

Both Charle and the crew's navigator jumped at the order, and the latter got even angrier as he realized it hadn't been his captain's order.

"Don't go giving me orders, doc'," he spoke in a calm voice. Charle half expected them to engage in a fight. "Just tend to Fire Fist."

"I did, and I also tended to the girl," he told them, and Wendy began to stand up, looking better. "I gave her something for the motion sickness."

"That medicine is amazing, Bedlam-san," Wendy thanked the doctor, giving him a gentle smile.

The bluenette relished in the feeling of traveling aboard a ship without feeling sick - she missed that. She hated feeling like her insides were turning as soon as she stepped on a transportation.

Wendy approached the edge of the deck, looking at the vast blue ocean, taking in the water and the shadows of creatures within it. She couldn't hear anything beyond their ship - anything but water and wind, that is. They weren't anywhere near firm land, that was for sure.

Charle and the navigator were still arguing about something, whereas Bedlam returned to Ace's side, determined to be there in case Fire Fist just as much as coughed. Despite being completely healed, he still didn't wake up.

 _'Find me'._

Wendy blinked, looking around for the female voice, but it sounded like it had been inside her head.

 _'Find me, find me before it's over. Find me before you sail west. Before the world drowns in darkness, find me."_

Suddenly, Wendy felt a powerful wave of sorrow and darkness try to overcome her, and she embraced herself, closing her eyes and trying to shake it away: it wasn't like anything she'd felt before. She felt its anger, its desire to do harm for no reason at all. She felt it with such intensity that it was painful - those feelings went against her very own nature, but she couldn't stop them.

She also felt fear and despair and, in the female voice that reached her, she felt hope.

 _"Find me, or that is all that will remain."_

The voice and its presence faded, and soon after, so did the overwhelming sensations.

Wendy fainted.

* * *

A _uthor's note: Thank you to everyone who stopped by and left a review. It felt incredible to read your opinion over the story :)_

 _LucilliaNovaDreyar, LoveFaithHope and MewMew: thanks for the kind words, hope you all have a great week and enjoy the story._

 _Zombooka: hahaha no worries about not reviewing much, I get it. I have an habit of thanking everyone in the author's notes, so don't mind the fact that I mention you here to thank you ;)_

 _10smash50: I don't plan on overpowering one character over another. They live in two different universes and fight in different ways, I hardly think it's easy to compare skills. Not sure I agree with you on the Wendy vs post-timeskip Luffy though xD but if and when I put them on situations that show off power and skill, I hope that it's in a way that doesn't feel forced ^^ thanks for the feedback!_

 _: Laxus forced the entire guild to hurt one another though, and Wendy knew that. In this world, she could only see the amount of people willing to die for Ace and his own grandfather moving to execute him. She had no prior knowledge of their story or of the situation, so her thoughts were based on the short knowledge she had, and given that, it's rather expected that she wouldn't understand Garp's actions (my point of view at least :) )_

 _Finally, the guest reviewer, your review/comment gives margin to a wide discussion of the theme, and although I'm tempted to do that here, it would be lenghtier than the chapter lol. I'll sum it up: I agree that the Strawhats' character development was huge after/because of Ace's death. No questioning that. However, Luffy and his friends all think he died, and although they'll find out that such thing didn't happen, I plan on working with the impact of what feeling like he lost his brother because he wasn't strong enough will do to Luffy. His friends still failed to be there to help him (in their point of view) and Luffy will still feel like he failed, too. So yeah, Ace's alive and there won't be 2 year training thingy, but I do plan to work on the emotional sideeffects of the war. Also, the headline thingy: it would be anticlimatic to write that 'firefist survived', but if the writer changed the headline to something like 'strawhat Luffy manages to stop the execution in the middle of marineford', it would still be interesting to people there xD all depends on how you approach things._

 _I hope that, if you do decide to read this through, you enjoy it. I'm always open to your feedbacks :)_

 _That's it, no comments or explanations of the chapter/reasons behind it this time. See you guys soon :)_


	4. Polar Bear

"Ora, it seems like this is my lucky day. Two new slaves just fell from the sky in the last eighteen hours," the fat man celebrated, licking his fingers after eating something oily and greasy. A few crumbs remained in his beard, and as he moved his hand over it, oil adhered to the thick hair. He looked as disgusting as he sounded.

She watched from their place in the tower, handcuffed, as the people below worked non-stop, building, cleaning, serving, while men in uniform whipped and hurt them. She couldn't listen to any conversations from above – only watch from that dirty window – but they wouldn't be pleasant, that was a given.

"Now go and join the others! Go build that bridge, scum!" Bellowing the order, he pushed her and she moved, quietly leaving the tower and joining the exhausted and wounded people below.

For a few hours, she blended in, working as fast as she could – which was fast enough for them – and trying to help as many people as she could, so that they'd be less punished. She dare not defy the uniform men or rebel, not until she had a better understanding of the situation. They were all in a huge bridge, with the ocean surrounding them: if she made one wrong move and needed to escape, she couldn't.

She was about to grab another set of bricks when she saw a young boy fall to his knees and drop something fragile – she didn't know what that was, but it broke into pieces.

"You idiot scum! Look what you've done!"

"Now the boss is gonna get angry at us! Stupid kid!"

"I'm… I'm sorry..."

The kid shrunk as one of the men's foot moved, aimed to kick him.

"Stop it, please," a dark haired woman stepped in between the kid and the uniformed men. She was handcuffed as the rest of them, but she didn't look as wrecked. She didn't look like someone whose spirit had been defeated. "It's my fault he fell."

"Nonsense! You weren't anywhere near him! Don't meddle in on this, bitch! It's none of your business!"

He then raised his hand and hit her, but she didn't move, still protecting the boy.

Guess caution's to the wind then.

"Ex-quip!" Changing into her Flight armor, she moved, faster than they probably expected, and punched the man's side, sending him a few meters away.

That sent the rest of the people into a frenzy.

"How did she break the handcuffs?!"

"That bitch scum! She punched me!"

"Run! They'll kill whoever opposes them!"

Erza didn't stop to see what they were doing, for two uniformed men moved to get her, snapping out of the surprised estate they were in by seeing her moving free, fast and strong. As they came at her, however, she simply moved and knocked them down.

Truly down: down the bridge, into the ocean.

"Are you alright?" She asked the woman, the one who had protected the kid. She nodded, standing protectively in front of him. "I don't suppose you'd know a way to escape this place?"

"Steal a ship," her answer was simple, as if she were telling Erza to just blink or breathe. "One of theirs."

Erza nodded and, in one swift motion, used her sword to cut off the woman's handcuffs, releasing her.

"You were willing to put yourself on the line for a boy you clearly didn't know, that puts you under the people I'd like as my allies category," the redhead spoke, answering the other woman's silent question. "What do you say about getting out of here?"

"You are risking yourself for people you clearly don't know, so I guess that makes you worth allying with as well. I'm Robin," she extended one hand and the redhead took it.

"Erza," she answered, moving to cut through a group of adversaries who had gathered a few slaves in a circle.

As she took one half of the group down, she watched, taken aback, as arms grew out of a few men's bodies, and forced them to bend back, probably breaking their collarbones.

"What kind of magic is that?"

The woman giggled.

"Magic? Curious way to refer to a Devil Fruit," her answer only left Erza more confused, but she had to put it aside for, in that moment, the sound of cannons attracted her attention. She turned to one side just in time to see a shower of cannon balls falling upon the watch tower – the one where the leader stayed.

"The Revolutionary Army, they're here."

"Are we on their side?"

"We're not against them, they won't harm you, either. I need to find a friend, though, so I'm going on a ship of my own."

Erza nodded and, not saying a word, helped Robin get to the ships and steal one: she didn't care about joining an Army, she cared about getting answers, and she'd have an easier time with that woman. The Army had their hands full with freeing the bridge slaves.

"Where are we headed?" She inquired, helping with setting sail.

"Sabaody," Robin answered, "that's our meeting point."

Whoever else she'd be meeting, Erza could only wonder. As soon as they were in safer ground – or waters – she planned on asking questions.

Hoping Robin would have answers.

••

* * *

••

"How does this compass work?"

"What? The Eternal Pose?" Nami looked between the Pose and Lucy, who eyed it with interest. "It points us towards the island it's locked onto. Since this one is an Eternal Pose to Water 7, it'll guide us there."

They had been sailing for half a day now, and had just reached a part where they had to be more careful due to huge rocks everywhere. Despite that, Zoro and Nami were quite relaxed.

"Why didn't you just take one to Sabaody?" That came from Zoro.

"Because I couldn't find one, idiot! That island doesn't receive many pirates, didn't you notice?"

"Whatever. Wake me up when we get there."

"You sleep a lot," Happy commented, flying above Zoro, who had his eyes closed and his back against a wooden mast. He seemed more relaxed now, Lucy noticed. Maybe because he had at least one companion along.

"Shut up, weird cat."

"I'm not a cat! I'm an Exceed!"

"That's not even a word."

Nami sighed, turning her attention away from the two bickering and back to the Pose. Lucy looked around her, to the vast ocean and the rocky path they were sailing into, in awe: she had never been at sea for so long. The longest was when they went to Tenrou Island, and the ocean wasn't as crazy and weird as that one.

"How is it that the crazy fish and huge monsters in the water do not freak you out?" She asked Nami after some time. Zoro clearly could fight, and he was the kind of person who didn't scare easily – Lucy knew that type well. But Nami seemed more normal, and she didn't have any weapons with her, save for a staff. Unless she could use some magic with it, Lucy couldn't see how the navigator would handle herself at sea.

"Our crew has three monsters of our own," Nami answered with a slight smile, "Zoro and two others, guess traveling with them got me used to these kind of dangers. Luffy's always going where trouble is," she seemed sadder at the mention of the name "Luffy".

"Why were you separated?" Happy asked, leaving a suddenly asleep Zoro to talk to the girls.

"We… Kuma attacked us," Nami's hands closed into tight fists, "we're too weak. We couldn't do anything against him. He… He zapped us away, each of us to a different place. I don't know where the others are, but I am sure they're all going to try and meet us and Sabaody."

"What's a Kuma?"

"You guys don't know much, do you? How did you get to the Grand Line like this?" Nami asked instead of answering Happy's question. "Why are you separated from your friends?"

"The Grand Line?" Lucy repeated, curious, then decided to answer at least one question. "We… We were attacked, and we were fighting when I found this," she showed Nami the black key. "I don't know what happened, but this scattered us all around the world, I think. Wendy fell in the middle of a war, we don't know about the others."

It was Lucy's turn to sound worried and a bit sad. She didn't like being separated from her friends again, not after the year apart.

Nami touched the black key on Lucy's key ring, visibly curious.

"It looks like a regular key," she commented, trying to figure out how a simple key could scatter people around the world. "How many friends are you looking for?"

"Natsu and Wendy," Happy spoke, "if I fell here, Natsu has to have fallen too, he was close to us.

"Erza and Gray, too," Lucy agreed, raising one finger for each name. "Four friends, five if we count Charle," she concluded.

"I hope you can find them," Nami spoke, and she meant it. She could understand the urge to reunite with one's companions for she felt it all the time since Kuma sent her to the Sky Island.

The ship suddenly shook violently, snapping both of them back from their conversation and relaxed moods. Nami looked for the source of the sudden shaking, but couldn't see a thing. The sky was clear, the water was calm and they couldn't see any monsters whatsoever.

Then it shook again, this time so violently that Zoro rolled from his place. He woke up, alert and alarmed, looking for an enemy.

"Something's attacking us from below!" Nami exclaimed, hurrying to the other side of the deck to try to see what it was. "We need to get out of here!"

"Happy? Can you see what it is?" Lucy asked, and the exceed flew around the ship while Nami and Zoro hurried to change its course away from the attacker.

"It's a person!" Happy came back shouting. "With six snakes, Lucy! It's a weird person!"

"That doesn't even make sense!" Lucy shouted back while helping the two pirates. "What the hell did you see?"

"f e e d" the word echoed all around them, as if the air itself had spoken. "m e."

"What the heck is with this voice?" Zoro demanded, while holding his swords in a fighting stance. One of the swords was in his mouth.

"It takes a long time to say even one word!" Happy added, and Lucy and Nami exchanged a fearful look. Lucy grabbed her whip out of habit and Nami's hand closed tightly around her staff. The ship had changed course, but it kept shaking violently.

"Is this thing following us?!" Nami demanded, trying to change course again. "I can't see it! How can we flee from something we can't see?!"

"Let's fight it!" Zoro went to the edge of the ship, looking for it in the water.

"How the hell are you going to fight underwater?!" Nami demanded, annoyed.

"Get that goat girl here!" He turned to Lucy, "she can force it out with that fluff stuff!"

"She can't bring out something she can't see!" Lucy protested, thinking. "NAMI, WE'RE GOING TO CRASH INTO THE ROCKS!"

Nami and Zoro quickly moved the ship again, avoiding the rocks. They finally left the rocky area, making it easier to flee.

Then, six huge heads came out of the water behind them, its eyes bloody red and the mouth full of sharp, huge teeth.

Lucy and Nami screamed, whereas Zoro prepared to attack.

But the thing simply sunk back into the water, leaving them alone.

"What was that?!" Lucy demanded, breathing fast. "Did you see the heads?!"

"I've never heard of a monster like that," Nami spoke back, now seemingly concerned. "We've never crossed anything remotely like it."

"So what? It's the Grand Line," Zoro spoke back to them. "Man, how annoying, I wanted to fight it."

Nami punched him hard.

"Idiot! That thing has six heads! Don't go picking these fights when Sanji and Luffy aren't here!"

"I can fight without the shitty cook!"

"I don't want to have to fight! If that thing had friends, we'd have to fight them!"

"SHUT UP!" Lucy shouted, stopping their quarrel. "Look!" She pointed ahead, and they both turned to look. "There's a sort of ship coming our way!"

They all turned to look, and indeed, there was something coming their way,

"That's not just any ship," Nami recognized the jolly roger, "it's Trafalgar Law's submarine. Why are they above water?"

"This isn't good," Zoro added, suddenly tense and again ready for battle. "That guy's troublesome to deal on our own."

"Don't go picking a fight!" Nami warned him just as the submarine stopped and a polar bear came to the top, surprising Lucy.

The bear looked at the group on deck and disappeared within the submarine again. A while later, a familiar face – to both Nami and Zoro, at least – appeared.

Law had the same cold and composed expression from whey they met him in Sabaody. He wore his signature hat and his eyes sent shivers down Lucy's spine. She'd never seen him before, so she found herself tensing under his expression and demeanor.

"You're Strawhat-ya's crew mates, right?" He spoke, looking at Nami, who quickly acknowledged it.

"You've seen Luffy?" Zoro inquired.

"He's recovering in the island of women," Nami and Zoro's jaws dropped at that, "he sustained grave injuries but should recover. Physically."

"You were at that war? I didn't read your name on the papers," Nami commented.

Law looked around the ocean and at his back.

"There's a small island close by," he spoke, "meet us there."

With that, he disappeared within his submarine, and they sailed – still with a part of it above water so Nami could follow.

Lucy wondered why he was being so mysterious, why Nami and Zoro seemed to tense under his presence – he looked a bit scary, sure, but nothing about his actions made Lucy think he'd hurt them – and why he seemed to know more about Nami and Zoro's friend than the duo. She started making a mental list of everything she wanted to ask them, all of them...

"Why do they have a polar bear in a submarine?"

That question came from Happy.

••

* * *

••

 _Author's note: Thanks everyone for the feedbacks again :)_

 _So, this is a smaller chapter. From now on, I'll be updating every SUNDAY, so don't worry, I'm not abandoning this story._

 _Any feedback is welcome - and if you don't want to make it public for some reason, my inbox is always open :)_

 _Hope you guys like it, despite the shortness._

 _One last thing: I swear I try to increase narrative and decrease dialogues throughout the story, but it's something I find particularly hard. I'll do my best to improve on that, I promise._


	5. Kaze Kaze no Mi

Wendy had experienced bad days before. Ever since joining Fairy Tail, she had all kinds of days. Calm days – though rare – and noisy days, dangerous and safe days, excellent and horrible days. She'd had it all. She'd felt just about everything except for, maybe, romantic love.

Nothing compared to the feeling of agony and danger that washed over her just a second before she passed away. She felt like darkness had taken over her body, like she was trapped in her own skin as it painfully melted down. She couldn't think of a way to describe what she felt to anyone, but just to remember the feeling… she shivered and hugged herself.

She didn't stay unconscious for long: Charle and Bedlam quickly got her back, but the feeling took some more time to subside. She couldn't hear the voice anymore, though.

They sailed for hours before anchoring on an island. The village there was small and had few outsiders – in fact, the people seemed extremely interested in the newcomers. The houses were colorless and Wendy had a feeling of poverty and sadness from simply looking at that place. It felt like people's spirits were dead there.

"Are you ok, kid?"

She nodded, looking up at one of Shanks' crew mates and smiling at him as they walked. They stopped by higher grounds, from where they could see the town on one side and the sea on the other while being unseen. The pirates stated that Fire Fist should remain hidden from people. Wendy looked at the still unconscious pirate, wondering why he wouldn't wake up, when Bedlam put him on the ground.

"I'm ok, just overwhelmed. Sorry for worrying you," she finally answered the man's question.

"He lost a lot in that war," Shanks spoke, arriving with Yasopp – they had been getting some basic supplies from the town market -, "His mind's probably recovering slower than his body. Ain't no power to heal that fast, right?"

She nodded, understanding, but still unsatisfied: she was a healer, she couldn't just accept the fact that she couldn't help heal someone.

"Well, we'll be off then," Shanks told her, and she snapped her head up to look at him. "Two of his brother's crew mates are arriving here as we speak, along with another of those Supernovas. It'll be troublesome if we stay here. I can't meet his crew before he's ready to meet me."

Wendy frowned, confused.

"Look for these two," Shanks handed her two pieces of papers. They were Wanted posters of two people, a girl and a man. "They are coming to this island. They will take both of you along. Luffy is their captain."

Now she understood part of what he was telling her to do: join up Ace with Luffy's crew members t, eventually, joining Ace and Luffy together.

"Wait!" Charle called before they left. "What if they don't show up? Or if we don't manage to cross paths?"

"Don't worry," Shanks answered with an unreadable expression. Soon, he and his crew left, and Wendy didn't do anything to stop them. She had a feeling that he and his crew weren't the kind of pirates to take along strays – even if one was just a girl.

Besides, she could handle herself, and she could heal Ace again if needed.

"Charle," she looked at her friend. "Can you look around for them?" She handed her the wanted posters, "I don't want to leave him alone and you can go around the village faster."

Charle nodded and flew away. Wendy sat down next to Ace and tried to use every variation of her healing magic on him again. She knew that Shanks was right and his spirit might need time healing, but she also was sure, from the few minutes she'd seen him awake, that his spirit was tougher than that. She doubted he'd stay down for that long.

'Something's missing. What is it, Ace-san?'

Sighing, she looked down at the ocean just as the wind changed.

When it blew on her face, from the ocean towards the village, her vision suddenly blurred.

" _You need to find me",_ again, the same voice, this time louder and more desperate. Wendy crouched in pain just as an island covered in ashes and ruins appeared before her eyes. A few crows feasted on what looked like corpses, the place smelled like blood and rotten flesh, and the feeling of it… She felt the sorrow of the people who watched their loved ones die, the anger of those fighting for their lives. The children were crying – she couldn't see any living thing but somehow she could hear the cries – and there were pots banging. Why would people bang pots?

Wendy covered her ears to try to block the sounds out. The pot-banging sound increased, vibrating in her ears, just as the island seemed to zoom in.

She widened her eyes as a different scent caught her attention and the sight of its cause…

" _Find me, Enchantress. Find me…_ "

"WENDY!"

Her body began to shake just as she began to scream. She felt something soft gripping her shoulders and shaking her. That didn't make any sense: soft had nothing to do with the vision…

She realized her eyes were closed and opened them, just as Charle shouted her name again.

"C-Charle?" She blinked, feeling something cold run down her cheeks. Tears. "I'm crying."

She spoke to herself, realizing that, indeed, she couldn't stop the silent tears.

"Crying?! You were screaming! What happened? Did he attack you?"

"He?"

"Ace!" She pointed at the fallen guy. "Did he fake this unconsciousness thing just to attack you?"

She shook her head negatively.

"I… I just felt sick and fainted, then I had a nightmare. I guess the medicine of Bedlam-san had some after-use side effects."

She nearly considered telling Charle the truth, but in their current situation that wouldn't help either of them and would only serve to distract Charle.

So she stopped talking and looked at the sea again. She saw a black spot in the distance and focused on it, trying to fight the fear of that voice returning. Charle looked at the distance too.

"I'll go see what it is," Charle said, but Wendy could already hear the people. She smiled widely.

"It's Happy!" She told her friend, who froze midair and turned to look at her, "and Lucy-san. I can hear them, Charle!"

Just as she said that, another ship – now she could guess that the dark moving spots were probably ships – appeared and she heard the sound of cannons. She heard Lucy screaming and widened her eyes.

"They're under attack!"

She stood up, ready to have Charle fly her there when thunder suddenly crashed on the attacker's ship.

 **• •**

* * *

 **• •**

After some quarreling and arguing, Nami and Zoro agreed to follow Law towards the island he mentioned. As the navigator stated, since she were the one handling the directions, she got to decide where they'd go, and she wanted to go after Trafalgar Law.

Lucy and Happy didn't dare to barge into their argument. Instead, the blonde focused on the water, scared that some crazy monster would show up again, but up to when they reached inland waters – according to Nami – nothing came around. Happy flew up and returned stating, merrily, that they were, indeed, approaching an island.

Before it came to view, though, another ship emerged from under the sea, nearly next to theirs, making both Lucy, Happy and Nami jump startled – while Zoro's hands flew to his swords. It didn't have a jolly roger, or flags for that matter. It did, however, had sailors on it, and they looked pretty scary in Lucy's opinion.

"Found two of 'em, boss!" One of the sailors – who Lucy guessed was a pirate – shouted, staring at Nami and Zoro. Lucy and Happy stood next to them, looking scared and curiously at the ship. Nami looked scared and Zoro...

"Why do you look excited?!" Lucy asked, incredulous, just as he prepared himself with his swords: one in each hand, one in his mouth.

"Shoot them down, now! The Commander said we don't need them alive!"

"Heh?" Zoro seemed even more excited and moved, but a cannonball made him dodge. Nami, Lucy and Happy got out of the way in time to dodge it, but others followed.

"They'll sink us!" Nami protested, and Lucy grabbed her keys.

" ** _Open, gate of the Archer, Sagittarius,_** " Lucy called, and her trusted archer appeared. Nami's eyes widened at the sudden weirdo appearing in their ship, and he, under Lucy's request, started shooting the cannonballs.

The arrows hit them all, making them explode midair.

"Impressive!" Nami acknowledged before grabbing hold of her clima tact and expanding it. Lucy looked at it curiously. "Zoro, don't go there!" She added to the swordsman, just as clouds appeared above the other ship. " _ **Thunderbolt Tempo!**_ "

Thunder crashed on the enemy's ship. It didn't sink it, but it worked to distract the pirates for long enough for Zoro and Nami to sail away from them.

"They're following us!" Happy stated.

" _ **Stardress: Sagittarius**_!" Lucy changed, now surprising even Zoro, who seemed about to argue with Nami for not letting him fight. " ** _Starshot_**!"

Sagittarius fired his arrows as well, and they all hit their marks: the cannons, now empty, filling them with arrows.

"That'll slow their firepower," Lucy spoke, looking at the island, which wasn't getting closer fast enough. She had a hard time keeping the gate open, which was odd, because she usually had much more magic power than that. She remembered the previous time she opened a gate, how it felt like it required a lot of energy from her, more than it usually did. Sure, she kept it open all night long, but Aries was one of her less-energy-consuming spirits, especially if she wasn't fighting. Something about that place made her magic heavier, like some of it was locked away.

"Can't you do that water thing?" Zoro asked her, earning a puzzled look from Nami.

"No, I'm barely holding on to this stardress," she shook her head negatively, frowning, "It feels like my magic's restrained here, it's tiring me out faster."

"Magic?" Nami repeated, incredulous, "do you mean Devil Fruit? What is yours anyway?"

"Can we chit chat later? Those bastards are approaching us," Zoro spoke, "Nami, I'm sinking their ship."

"Sagittarius, gate closed," Lucy spoke, feeling suddenly exhausted. The magic limitation there sure wasn't convenient.

Why did the pirates wanted Zoro and Nami anyway? The two didn't seem to know who the attackers were, and it was also odd that the ship literally appeared out of nowhere. Also, she thought, the pirate guiding their group suddenly seemed to have disappeared. If he wanted them to follow him so badly, why not help them out?

Just then, one of the attackers suddenly threw a cannonball in the air, but it didn't get anywhere near the ship. Lucy and Nami exchanged a confused look, which soon became a look of horror when another pirate moved both hands and a powerful wind blew the cannonball towards them.

"Cut it! Cut it!" Nami shouted at Zoro, who didn't need that command: he was gonna cut it either way.

The cannonballs returned, in an even faster rate. Zoro kept cutting one after another, but the amount didn't allow for him to land a direct attack on the ship itself.

It was also approaching them, moving a lot faster than their ship.

"They're Devil Fruit users!" Nami shouted while dodging the fragments of the cannonballs Zoro cut.

"They'll sink us at this rate!" Lucy complained.

The man who kept forcing the wind towards the cannonballs suddenly smirked.

"We're close enough now," he said, and Lucy had a bad feeling about it, _**"Kaze Kaze no Tatsumaki!" (Wind Wind Tornado).**_

A large tornado surrounded their ship, and it nearly threw Zoro into the water. Nami and Lucy grabbed onto the mast, while Happy grabbed onto Lucy. It was so powerful that even the Exceed couldn't fly through it.

"We'll sink at this rate!"

That's when Lucy heard a familiar voice,

 ** _"Tenryuu no Hokko!"_**

 **• •**

* * *

• •

Author's Note: Updated as promised. (For the record, it's Sunday 8p.m where I live, so I am on time :P )

Hope you all enjoy. At least two groups should finally meet :)


	6. Angel

**I am so, so sorry about this huge delay in updating! My life went crazy and not in a good way, and at first I didn't have time to write, then I didn't have the willpower to do it - or to do anything else. Now I'm forcing myself to get better and I'm starting with stuff I liked to do, this being one of them. I'm posting this one with an apology message, and the next one as well! I hope readers can forgive me eventually!**

 **Anyways, to the story :D**

* * *

Usopp couldn't decide whether to feel Lucky or unlucky.

He had, after all, been attacked by a shichibukai, and expected to either die or end up in Impel Down (which he wasn't sure would be better than dying), but instead, he survived and ended up on an island with no Marines.

Except that the island was filled with gigantic creatures.

"I am not food! I taste like crap! I promise you, you don't want to eat me!"

That had been his chant since he got there and had to keep running and hiding from the creatures that seemed intent on catching him.

Finally, after Roger-knows-how-long, he fell, and was about to meet his end at the mouth of a giant spider when a man jumped in between them and sent the spider away, ultimately saving the sniper's life.

The man looked like a beetle, which Usopp found weirder than the actual giant beetles on that island.

"Thank you! On behalf of my crew, I recognize your worth."

"Your crew?" The man looked around curiously, "oh, have they been eaten?"

"No! They aren't here. As their captain, I took it upon me to venture alone in this dangerous place, but all my eight thousand men are waiting for me by the shore. Where is it again? I got lost!"

The beetle guy started to laugh.

"You are one weird dude," he spoke, and Usopp snapped. "You can't leave this island, the creatures get bigger and stronger as you reach the shore. They'd kill whoever tries to approach it. You're lucky to reach this area in one piece."

 _That's because I just showed up here in this area_.

"Wait, I have to leave, though. My friends are all waiting for me," he protested, now worried.

"All your eight thousand friends?"

"Shut up!"

"With pleasure."

Silence followed, and Usopp soon wished to try and leave, but movement on the nearest bushes changed his mind. He had to figure out how to return to his friends, though. Unless…

"On second thought," he spoke, lightening up. "I think I'll stay with you for a while, beetle-man. My friends will definitely find me!"

If Luffy, Zoro and Sanji came to get him, he would definitely leave unharmed. A much better plan.

He started collecting seeds and improving his weapon through the next couple of days. The man also trained him a little, but mostly he'd just stay out of trouble. Usopp learned more about the plants in that island and even got stealthier as time passed - mostly due to his fear of anything that moved or made noises around him. He was sure he had learned to climb trees extremely faster, and eventually, his aim improved a bit - though he only attacked when he had no choice.

He lead the next few days like this, and started moving further from his and Beetle-guy's camp, looking for a way to the shore that didn't involve him getting eaten by a bunch of giant stuff. He wasn't getting anywhere though.

Until one day he heard voices approaching and a commotion somewhat near the shelter.

"Another pirate?" Beetle-man asked, walking slowly towards the noise. Usopp followed, excitedly expecting to see his friends – maybe the female voices were Nami's or Robin's, "maybe one of your thousand friends finally decided to come pick you up?"

"Shut up!"

They followed the sounds, walking carefully not to fall in any ambushes, and as they approached, he realized it belonged to someone he didn't know, and it also wasn't some person in distress. Instead, they saw a hurricane of red and silver cutting through beast after beast as if they were sushi. Usopp and Beetle stared in awe at the red-haired woman, dressed in a silver armor and branding two swords. Usopp rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining it, and indeed, he wasn't.

"Oh, now I see why you say you have a thousand friends," Beetle spoke, watching the woman move about killing creatures with a serene expression, "that one is probably woth a thousand, huh? I'm guessing you have more friends like her?"

"I don't know her," he admitted, and was about to say that his friends weren't coming when a bunch of arms suddenly grew out of one huge ant and crushed it. "Wait! I know that attack!"

As he said that, Robin came out of the depths of the woods and easily tricked monsters here and there. Her fighting style wasn't so aggressive and heads-on, but she was a formidable fighter nonetheless, even if she didn't take as many creatures out at once as the mysterious woman did.

Her eyes fell on Usopp and recognition flashed in her expression.

"Long-nose-kun?" She asked, approaching him - in a way that would make any bystanders think she was walking on the beach, not a scary forest, "you've been here the entire time?"

"Robin!" Usopp nearly jumped with joy, relieved that he _finally_ had one of his crewmates around. "It's really you! How did you find me here? I knew you guys wouldn't give up on me, I'm too important and..."

"I gather you're one of his thousand friends?" Beetle asked Robin, cutting Usopp's speech short.

"Shut up, old man!"

"I'm a Strawhat Pirate, yes," Robin confirmed, "we came here looking for food and supplies, and maybe a logpose," she informed them, and Usopp frowned.

"A logpose? What happened to Nami's?"

"Nami-san isn't with us," Robin informed him and he gulped, just as the redhead approached them, carrying a huge plant-like thing on her shoulder.

"We should go back to the ship," the woman spoke to Robin, "it doesn't seem to exist a civilization on this island."

"Indeed, there isn't," Beetle-man confirmed, "but getting to the shore is impossible... Wait, how did you survive coming here from the shore?"

"I just cut my way through," the woman answered simply. Her eyes fell on the two men, "are they your friends?"

Robin nodded.

"Usopp, this is Erza, she's searching for her companions as well," Robin introduced them, then her eyes fell on the beetle-guy. "I don't believe I've met you before, kabuto-kun."

"Indeed you have not, I am Usopp's friend..."

"YOU'RE NOT!"

"I'm friend number thousand and one, of course!" He protested, and Usopp hit him in the head. Erza and Robin exchanged a puzzled look before giggling.

"Anyways, we've got something we can use as food," Erza spoke, and Robin nodded in agreement, "we should leave if you wish to see your friends soon," she added, and Usopp's attention was suddenly solemly on those two.

"We're leaving?" He asked excitedly. "Finally! See, old man? I told you we'd get out of here somehow!"

The old man nodded with a smile and followed them to the shore, where a ship was anchored. Usopp frowned upon seeing it.

"Usopp-kun, you lied about being a pirate, too?" Beetle-guy asked, confused.

"N-No... Robin, why are you on a Marine ship?"

"Long story," Erza answered, "come on, let's board this already!"

 _Since when is she the captain?_

Asking himself that mentally, he followed, along with Robin. It was only when he finished saving the "food" (alas, the stuff Erza killed and carried with them), he realized that Beetle-man was nowhere to be seen anymore.

Feeling weird about leaving the man, but knowing he chose to stay, Usopp smiled as they set sail.

 **xx**

* * *

 **xx**

Wendy and Charle reached the ships in a flash after they saw the explosion, and just in time, too, for one of the attackers used a type of air magic, which she could easily counter. A tornado was just forming itself around the ship when she arrived, aiming straight for its maker:

 **"Tenryuu no Hokko"** , the dragon's roar hit its target - whether because she was stronger, or because they didn't expect it, she'd never know. It was enough to make the tornado go away, probably due to the maker's loosing his focus, and as soon as it did, a green-haired man jumped off the ship and landed on the firing ship. Wendy proceeded to Lucy's side of the battle, without actually landing on the ship due to her motion sickness.

Lucy and Happy both looked excitedly at her.

"Wendy! Charle!"

Wendy recognized the other girl there as the catburglar Nami, from one of Shanks' posters. She looked at the entire situation with a mixt of surprise, tension and fear.

"Zoro! What's taking you so long? Sink them already!"

 _What does she think he is?_

As Wendy was about to turn and help him, one enemy came out at her, with small hurricanes under his feet making him fly, and a drill-like air flow made sword around his arm, aiming for her neck. Her sense of smell and hearing abilities were enough for her to urge Charle to dodge, though, and he stopped midair to try again.

 **"Tenryuu no Kagizume"** , moving her arms, she slashed with the dragon wing attack just as he came with his air-drill at her. Whereas she could dodge midair – thanks to Charle – he couldn't since her attack had a higher area of effectiveness. and it nearly made him fall into the ocean.

"Wendy! Water is their..."

"Weakness," she finished Lucy's warning herself, aware of that as well. "Charle, let's fly closer to the ocean!"

Not questioning her friend, Charle took her near the water, and the overconfident attacker followed.

"You can't sink me that easily little girl," he warned her confidently, "besides, now we're both in a risky position."

 _He thinks I'm like him._

She focused on the water below her, hearing his approach, and waited for him to be extremely close...

" **Tenryuu no Hokko!"** the dragon's roar hit the water with full force and made a wave-like effect around the área it hit, with the watter hitting the man who was so close to her. It wasn't much, but enough to startle him and make him lose balance, ultimately falling into the sea.

"Crap! The captain's voice reached her ears, and he commanded a retreat, as their pirates, one by one, were thrown in the ocean or cut down by Zoro – along with huge parts of their ship. "Get us to the shore!"

"Not so fast, you're not..." Zoro muttered, with one of three swords in his mouth, before attacking once more. Wendy looked worriedly at the shore: she needed to keep an eye on Ace, if these people found out he were alive...

One of the pirates who Zoro threw into the water dove and retrieved the Wind user, but he wasn't ready to fight again, and she couldn't waste more time on that.

"Happy! Take Zoro-san to the shore, please," she asked the blue exceed, who promptly agreed. "Lucy-san, Nami-san," she turned to the two on board, "please hold tight to the ship."

Puzzled, they did as she asked.

" **Tenryuu no..."**

"Wait! Wendy! You'll blow this ship apart!"

" **Hokko!"**

She aimed at the ship, the gust of air sending it miles forward – and indeed Breaking it apart, but it still had enough pieces to keep Nami and Lucy aboard it as it reached the shore.

"Oi! Blue cat! I'll chop you if you don't let me go!"

"WENDYYY! I'M SCARED!"

"Sheesh, just take him to the shore," Charle scolded while doing exactly that with Wendy. They landed near Ace, who, gladly, was still there and unconscious. Charle let Wendy there and went to guide Nami and Lucy to that place.

Just as she heard Happy approaching with Zoro from the skies – after spending a few minutes arguing in the air about whether the swordsman would keep fighting or not – and as Lucy arrived with Nami, he opened his eyes.

"Who is that?" Lucy asked, looking at Ace, while Nami froze upon seeing him. His eyes roamed his surroundings and stopped on the blonde.

 _"An Angel?"_


	7. Pink Island

(Still 3 days after Team FT fell into OP world)

"Ace?!" Nami exclaimed as Firefist sat up, rubbing his neck as if he had muscle pains. Wendy quickly came to his side to check for any new injuries, but the pain was due to him lying still for so long. He looked around sleepily, taking a little longer on Lucy, and then extended his arms and yawned.

"Man, that was a great sleep I just had!"

"Sleep?!" Charle repeated, raising her voice a few notches in anger, "that was no sleeping condition, you were in a coma!"

"You were dead!" Nami corrected.

"I'm dead?! So you're really an angel?" He asked Lucy, who immediately slapped his head.

"Shut up!"

"You're not dead, Ace-san," Wendy assured him, "we saved you and Shanks-san brought us all here, we've been waiting for you to Wake up for a while now, and the world thinks you died."

Now everyone stared at the bluenette as if she'd grown three heads.

Taking a deep breath, Wendy proceeded to explain to everyone what exactly happened ever since she arrived on that world. She told them about Marineford, and how Akainu nearly killed Ace when the latter jumped in front of the magma-fist to shield his little brother, how Shanks ended the war and how Charle and Wendy managed to sneak Ace away from prying eyes until only Shanks crew remained there.

She then explained that she healed them – which Lucy had already realized by herself, whereas Nami and Zoro seemed completely shocked – and that Shanks took both of them under his wing until they found the Strawhats.

She didn't realize how long that story was until she told it out loud. Even Ace seemed impressed with the parts he didn't know – mainly with the fact that a Yonkou had protected him and the little girl he had met in the middle of a war had saved him.

When she finally finished the story, nobody spoke.

"We should set sail then," Charle broke the silence, "we have been waiting for you guys to arrive so we could leave this island., it's not safe to keep Ace within civilization. Shanks said you should let everyone think you're dead for now, at least until you've gathered enough forces to make sure you don't get captured again."

"I'm enough to make sure I don't get captured again," he stated, looking fiercely at the exceed.

"Really? Then how did you end up in that execution stand?"

He was about to grab Charle when Wendy asked them all to be quiet.

"Someone's coming," she explained to the confused group. Nami, Zoro and Ace looked around puzzled. "I can smell blood, too."

"What do you mean you can smell blood?" Nami repeated.

Zoro seemed curious as well, but he chose to assume a battle stance instead of asking questions. When Ace seemed about to do the same, both Lucy and Charle jumped him.

"Ouch! What are you doing?"

"You are supposed to be dead! Don't go picking fights!" Lucy scolded him, holding him down while Nami created a mirage of a nearby bush to hide him.

The footsteps approached, heavy, faltering, as if whoever it was had trouble walking. Wendy guessed the blood was due to some injury that could be making the person have difficulty walking.

When he finally came within their sight – for it was a very weird 'he', Wendy noticed – Lucy and Happy relaxed whereas Nami and Zoro tensed.

He stopped once he could see the entire group, his eyes taking a little longer on Wendy and Charle before returning to Nami.

Wendy's eyes were still locked on the bleeding man.

"These wounds..." Charle spoke, horrified. He wasn't as bad as Ace had been, but he had gruesome cuts and bruises over his entire body.

"Aren't you a doctor?" Zoro asked, not abandoning his fighting stance. "This is a poor choice of trickery."

"This isn't a trick," Wendy protested, approaching the guy, "I can smell the blood, it's coming from everywhere in his body."

"I am a doctor," the man agreed, and she stopped halfway through reaching him, "I took care of any vital problems already, but performing self surgery requires time and safety I don't have yet."

"Law-san," Lucy acknowledged him, "you disappeared when that ship showed up. What happened?"

"A creature attacked us," he informed simply, and his tone made it clear that he would not be adding anything else to his explanation, "Bepo is gathering food and we're ready to depart. My job here is done."

"Your job?" Nami repeated, now angry too. "What was it, to serve us to those pirates?"

"To join you with Firefist," that surprised everyone, and Ace stood up from the hiding place, shaking the mirage away. He approached Wendy, oddly, as if he were protecting her.

"Why would you care about that?" Ace questioned, not as tense as the Strawhats, but Wendy could tell he was ready to fight if needed. She hoped he didn't need it, as she feared what would happen if he got injured so soon.

"I made a deal with Akagami Shanks, one worth taking," he answered, "I'll meet you again on the new world, Strawhats."

"Wait!" Wendy called, running after him as he turned to leave. She stopped when she reached him, and he looked at her without any emotions displayed on his face. "I can heal you," she added, putting both hands above one side of his waist, without really touching him, where the worst cut seemed to be, and focusing on her healing magic.

If that surprised him, he didn't show, keeping the same calm, composed expression.

He did acknowledge that she had a useful ability though.

"Maybe you should go with him," Charle suggested, surprising them all. "I know we just got together, but now we know that Lucy will eventually join up with Luffy's crew, and we can find them again later. It makes it easier to find the others if we're on two different pirate crews."

"That's true," Lucy agreed, ignoring everyone else protesting, "but Law-san's a doctor, right?" As she asked, he confirmed it, seemingly interested in having Wendy joining him, "and Wendy's a healer. It's not the smartest strategy to put two people that can heal in one crew, and leave the other with none."

"So what do you suggest, Lucy-san?"

"You go with Zoro-san and Nami-chan," she started, "and Happy and I go with Law-san,... if he agrees, of course," as the blonde looked at Law, he didn't say anything that indicated he opposed, but he didn't exactly celebrate with joy either.

Lucy sighed, were all guys on that world so brooding and mysterious?

"What about Ace?" Charle asked, looking at Firefist, who, in turn, looked directly at Wendy.

"She saved my life," he stated, matter-of-factly, but making her blush shyly either way, "this power of hers is probably the only thing that could have kept me from dying given the injury I received, and she barely knew me when she chose to help. I don't know what I'll do now that Old Man's gone, but before I figure it out, I owe it to her to help find the rest of her friends, and I also need to find Luffy, so until then, I'm with you, kiddo." Saying that, he put one hand on Wendy's hair and messed with it in a kind manner, which didn't fit his tough looking stance or expression, but was still sweet.

"So Ace's on the Strawhat crew, that settles it," Charle spoke, ending their conversation. They all nodded in agreement and Law immediately turned and walked away.

Lucy and Wendy parted ways, both of them feeling torn between the blond's strategy - that indeed was the best option they could come up with - and the idea of separating just as they found each other. But Lucy knew that Wendy would be safe, and Wendy knew that, out of everyone in her group, Lucy was probably the smartest one, so she'd definitely be able to find them all again.

Both of them worried a lot more about the ruckus the other three members of Team Natsu were probably making in a strange world.

Lucy hurried after Law with Happy in her arms, and she glanced back at Wendy one last time before she got out of each others vision field. Wendy waved goodbye with her usual gentle smile.

"Well," Zoro's voice attracted the bluenette's attention, "should we get a new ship then?"

••

* * *

••

Lucy still remembered how she felt when she first came to Fairy Tail: she felt like she was intruding a Family, like an outsider, but she also felt excited about being in the guild of her dreams. Also, everyone included her in everything quickly – Natsu, Gray, Levy, Mira… they were all kind and welcoming, so the intruding feeling quickly went away.

This time, joining Law's crew, she felt like an intruder again – and a piece of meat, too, if the men's glares at her were of any indication – but unlike Fairy Tail, they weren't the most welcoming bunch. They didn't oppose to her joining – she made sure to ask again - but didn't seem interested in getting friendly with her either.

Bepo, the talking bear, was the only nice one, and he and Happy seemed to find a lot of things to talk about.

They boarded the submarine and she found herself a quiet corner, feeling too uncomfortable with the men's stares at her to join them. After sometime alone, watching the water, though, she started to feel bored, and couldn't summon her spirits because she needed to save her magic. She should have asked Wendy whether the girl had been feeling tired faster in that world, too, but now that ship had sailed – literally.

After too much boredom, she left her lonely place and joined Law, deciding that if she were to feel a little less like an outsider, she had to get to know him.

If only everyone was as friendly as Natsu…

Shaking that thought away – it wouldn't help her now, as much as she'd like to meet the fire dragon slayer again – she approached Law.

"Thank you for letting us tag along," he didn't look at her as she spoke, "why, though? You're not an ally of Zoro and Nami, right?"

"We're pirates," he spoke, as if that should be enough an answer, "we're all competing to reach One Piece first, so we can't afford to make friends. There's no point in an alliance now, maybe in the new world…"

"Who attacked you?" That came from Happy, who approached them along with Bepo.

"A weird ship," Bepo answered when Law wouldn't, "we've never seen a ship like that, or heard of those pirates, and they were strong. They should be famous, which is odd…"

"They're looking for non-devil fruit users," Law added, looking back at the rest of his crew, drinking and laughing, "people that have made it high into the Marine wanted list without any devil powers."

"Devil powers?" Lucy repeated, "we've heard that Devil Fruit term already, what is that?"

"It gives the person that eats it the power it has," Bepo explained, "it's weird that you guys don't know, though. Aren't you a devil fruit user?" He turned to Happy.

"I'm an Exceed!"

"That's not even a word!"

" _ **Room**_ "

The word interrupted the discussion and a weird dome formed around them.

" _ **Shambles**_ "

Suddenly, Lucy and Happy were on the opposite side of where they'd been, and a chair lied in their previous place. Lucy blinked, a little lost, and looked interested at Law.

"That's a devil fruit power," he informed them, before leaving to join the rest of his crew.

Lucy sighed, walking back to her previous place and making sure to put the chair back. This was going to be a very long journey.

Just as she sat down, one of the men shouted that they were approaching an island. Soon after that, the submarine stopped.

Lucy got out of it as soon as she could, excited to meet a new place and hoping she'd find Grey, Erza or Natsu. She also wanted to get some new experiences to use as a writing material – she had to make the best of that weird situation, right?

"It's a pink island!" Happy's voice verbalized her thoughts, as they both stared blankly at the overly pink island. It looked like something Sherry would have decorated.

Just as they began to walk forward – Law's crew were looking for a few supplies they couldn't find in the previous island, and Lucy wanted to explore – they heard shouting, and the sound of many people running.

Soon after that, the weirdest people Lucy's ever seen appeared in her field of vision, chasing after a seemingly regular, albeit really fast, blond man.

••

* * *

••

Author's note: Oh my, you guys are so sweet! Thank you so much for all the sweet comments, really! That's so gratifying!

So, everyone seemed really interested and concerned about the Ace/Lucy ship: I won't be doing that! Sorry to those who hoped for it, but I'd rather be honest – I'm a NaLu shipper to the end, and it feels like it wouldn't make much sense to ship her with someone from a different world – it's not like they'll stay there forever.

I do plan to play with them a bit later on – he's One Piece's version of Natsu, in a way, so I do see them having some chemistry in the long run, but not now, and it won't be a thing (more like how Loki and Lucy are, y'know?).

I do plan on shipping Ace with someone, though *smiles*

(To be honest, Lucy's the kind of character that can potentially be shipped with pretty much anyone in my opinion – I can see her with Zoro, Law, Ace, Gray, Loki, even Laxus, and mainly Natsu, which is the one I go for!)

I think that was the main concern in these past comments, so anything else I'll address in the next chapter to avoid a longer Author's Note, but again, thank you all SO much!


	8. Mizuchi

"This is a very dark place, isn't it?"

"Indeed, it is. Are you sure you want to do this, sir? You're not even officially a Marine yet, although Akainu seems to like you."

The old man glanced at his side, awaiting an answer from the mysterious man who seemed so bent on helping them for nothing in return. Whether it was recklessness, bravery, or stupidity, it was too soon to tell.

"I do. I just saw those bastards wrecking a entire village as if it meant nothing..." the young one closed his hand into a fist, fighting his own emotions and memories, "the last time I saw something like that, it was done by a demon, _not humans_."

The old man chuckled, wiping some water drops from his bushy moustache and chewing on his tooth – or at least it seemed like that's what he was doing. He looked back, to the water, the impossibly huge walls and impenetrable gates.

It really did seem like they were in hell. The place's energy was sour, dark, tragic and deadly. Happiness and joy felt like distant emotions, like they had been locked outside of the gates, and couldn't penetrate.

 _It's the worst place on Earth,_ they used to say.

"It's certainly easier to blame the sins of the world on demons and devils," the old man said after they spent a while in tense silence. They had to wait until someone came to receive them, so they might as well find a way to make the time go by a bit faster, "I guess that is why men came up with the idea of good and bad people. If you're not a _bad person,_ you can rest easily at night, even if some of your actions aren't exactly kind-hearted, right?"

"Well, sometimes, to deal with the devil, one must be willing to become something closer to a devil itself, old man," was the answer he got.

"Perhaps," he didn't disagree, although his distant gaze showed he probably didn't agree, either, "or perhaps that's just the easier road. Either way, it seems like our paths are about to separate, youngling," he added as the doors to the place finally opened, revealing a large, weird-looking man. "Akainu is sending someone to wait for you, so good luck."

Saying that, the old man returned to his ship and ordered the crew to set sail, whereas the young one turned to face the man at the door.

"Welcome to Impel Down, lad. I am the Warden, Magellan, and Akainu informs me you're here to help returning prisoners to their places and with fixing the prison, is that correct?"

The young man nodded, a serious expression on his face.

"Anything to help keep those monsters locked up," he agreed, and flashes of what he saw when he first arrived passed by his eyes: men with swords, guns and strange powers ravaging a village, destroying everything, killing men and children, hurting women… he then remembered his childhood, watching a demon destroy everything he held dear, watching the one person who took care of him dying because of that same demon…

He wouldn't let anyone else suffer that. He wouldn't allow those monsters to roam free if he could help avoid it – and he could. According to the Marines, the people hunting the monsters, he could help by helping with the prison.

"Oh my, Sadie likes the view," a weird woman chanted when they entered the place, making a strange pose as she stared at him.

The prisoners in the first level weren't as pleased. They all bellowed curses and threats.

 _"Who is that uptight guy?"_

 _"Guy? Look at his skin! Looks more like a princess!"_

 _"A pervy one, he's naked!"_

"What?!" Only then he realized he didn't have his clothes on anymore. "When did this happen?"

"You arrived naked, sir," a guard informed him, quickly moving to shut up the prisoners.

"Akainu said you had talents similar to Aokiji's," Magellan spoke, and he stopped walking for a moment, pointing at a huge hole on a cell, "maybe you should prove yourself before you go any lower."

He nodded, already expecting that, and focused on the hole.

 **"Ice Make…"**

 **Xx**

* * *

 **Xx**

 _Find me, Enchantress._

"Not again," she cried, opening her eyes in panic. Both Nami and Charle woke up and took fighting stances before realizing nothing was there, "I'm sorry Charle, Nami-san…"

"Still with that nightmare?" Charle asked, concerned.

 _If only it were truly just a nightmare,_ she thought, but simply nodded instead.

"How's your motion sickness?" Nami asked, and Wendy whined, returning to her previous position to try and relieve the sickness. Oddly, the nightmare seemed to send it a way temporarily, but she didn't really know which she hated most.

 _At least the motion sickness means I'm a true dragon slayer now_ , she thought, trying to see a silver lining.

She wished she could cast Troia on herself, but it never seemed to work. Probably because it wasn't exactly an enchant, as Vernier and Arms, but more of a cure, and those she couldn't use on herself.

"I'm sorry we can't help you," Nami apologized, feeling sorry for the young girl, "maybe Chopper could make you something, but until we find him, there's nothing we can do."

"What is a Chopper?" Charle asked, and Wendy tried to remember seeing a poster with that name in the middle of the ones Shanks had given her, but there wasn't any.

"He's our crew's doctor," Nami explained, "although I suppose you're a doctor too, right?"

Wendy shook her head negatively.

"My healing powers are just a part of my magic, but I'm not a doctor, and I can't use them on myself," she explained with some difficulty to talk, she felt like hurling all the time.

"That sucks," Ace spoke, startling Nami and Charle. His face appeared in the open window then, "a Devil Fruit that gives motion sickness is the worst."

" _What the hell are you doing spying on us?!"_ Both Nami and Charle yelled, startling him.

He grumbled.

"I have to stay hidden, and the only other hidden place besides yours is this tiny room with a window to your room," he complained, and Wendy wanted to giggle. He sounded like a grounded teenager then, "besides, I'm keeping an eye on her."

"She's not a damsel in distress you know," Nami told him, "we've seen her fighting."

His face – and silence – made it clear that he didn't believe that, but didn't want to say so in order not to hurt her feelings.

"I-It's ok, N-Nami-san, C-Charle," Wendy spoke, now feeling greenish, "I don't mind, but you don't have to protect me, Ace-san. I helped because I wanted to."

He shrugged.

"Now I'm your ally cause I want to," he spoke back, before his face disappeared from the window, and they suddenly heard snoring.

 _"How can someone fall asleep like that? How rude!"_

That came from Charle, whereas Wendy wanted to laugh and Nami simply sighed.

"Oi, Nami! I think we're approaching an island!"

"Finally!" Ace, suddenly awake again, shouted back as Nami hurried to the deck to see what Zoro was talking about.

Their ship wasn't a huge one, nor the fastest, but it was the best Zoro could steal and it was definitely an improvement over their previous one - though Wendy only caught a glimpse of it when it was under attack. It had two small rooms, one occupied by the girls and the other by Ace – who could only stay on deck when Wendy did as well, so she could warn him in case she heard anyone approaching. They didn't want the world finding out that he survived, much less that he was with two of the Strawhats, since that would make the group a target and, as Nami stated, they were not going up against the whole marine force without their full crew.

Definitely not without their captain – who also should be the first one to hear the News, not the last one.

Nami gave them directions on how to properly approach the island – apparently going straight ahead would lead them to a dangerous current and they didn't want that. When they finally docked, Wendy was the first one out of the ship, recovering instantly as soon as her feet hit the steady ground. She breathed in relieved, then turned to the others.

She started giggling instantly.

Ace had a sack of potatoes wrapped around his head, leaving only his eyes visible, and a weird cape was thrown around his shoulders to hide his chest, back and arms – thus hiding his tattoos. Nami finished up dressing him in disguises and looked proudly at her work.

"I am _not_ walking around in this!"

Both Zoro and Wendy laughed at the sight of him.

"You are or you'll stay on the ship," Nami spoke back in a tone that left no room for discussion.

"You're not my captain y'know, you can't tell me what to do..."

"Please, Ace-san," Wendy asked, now in a serious tone, "we'll look for better clothes in the island," she suggested, as a Peace-making offer, and he pondered on it for a while before nodding grumpily, ending their discussion.

They entered the island, but it didn't seem to have a large civilization - Wendy began to think that was a pattern in that world: many islands, few people. It had forests, and weird huge animals - though they didn't seem harmful - but after a while walking among trees, they gave up and decided to find a glade to rest.

"Can't we rest on the ship?" Nami asked in a fearful voice, just as they found a suitable space. It was still in the middle of the forest, but there was a wide area for them to set up camp, and they could even see the moon and the stars.

"Why? Wendy'd be sick there," Charle protested, "besides, it's fun to camp out."

"There's nothing fun about staying in the middle of a forest! We're easy prey to whatever comes at us!"

Zoro and Ace both looked pleased at the prospect of fighting, which only made the navigator even more scared. Wendy smiled.

"I can hear people approaching us," she warned, focusing on her senses, then frowned, "though I can't smell people."

"I'll go check!" Charle spoke, flying up before Wendy could protest, and the white exceed made a quick back-and-forth flight before returning, "it's a Reindeer and a bunch of creatures! The Reindeer seems to talk and…"

" _Found them!"_

Charle turned just in time to see a meteor falling from the sky towards her. She dodged, and so did the others on the ground, with it missing Nami by an inch.

Another followed, and a third one. It wasn't as fiery and big as they imagined Meteors would be, but it still could do quite some damage.

As they dodged, Wendy caught the scent of a feline and human just as she heard quick footsteps from behind. She turned around, and as she was about to warn them about it, a cat-looking woman appeared behind Nami and hit the navigator hard in the head.

"Nami!" Zoro moved to catch her before she hit the ground, but the cat-girl took the opportunity to hit him - or try to, for his reflexes were better than she assumed, and he blocked her with one sword, "who the fuck are you?"

The girl smiled, revealing feline fangs, and kicked again, this time aiming for Zoro's sword, sending him a dozen steps backwards. Grunting, he launched, now to attack, not defend, and slashed the air as she practically disappeared.

"She's changing from place to place instantly?" Nami asked, rubbing the back of her head and moving out of the battle way.

"No, she's running," Wendy and Ace spoke in unison, "Zoro-san, I'll help you catch up. **Vernier**."

As the bluenette cast the enchantment, Zoro's speed increased enough for him to suddenly run as fast as the girl – and then it seemed like both of them were disappearing and reappearing in different places.

"A-Amazing," Nami commented, then her eyes fell on Wendy, "what did you do?"

"I can enchant people," she explained timidly, just as another scent and sound caught her attention. She pushed Ace down to the ground, and a metal boomerang-looking weapon crossed the place where his neck previously were.

"Oh? Nice dodge," a man, looking around his mid-thirties, with a square scar around his left eye and a strange burnt mark on his chin, entered the glade, "you're fast for a girl."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nami asked annoyed, grabbing her staff in a fighting stance.

Wendy and Ace both stood up, and the latter immediately flamed up, just as the man seemed about to attack again: his weapon was, indeed, a boomerang, meaning it returned to his hand soon after Wendy's dodge.

Ace's flames, however, looked and felt a lot scarier than a simple boomerang. Wendy stepped away, feeling the heat intensity, and having a strange sense of deja-vu.

 _Natsu-san…_

"That Fruit…" The Boomerang man spoke, now spooked, "that's impossible… how…?"

The potato sack burned to a crisp, along with the rest of the clothes, save for Ace's usual shorts, revealing his appearance.

"Firefist?" The cat-woman stopped, distracted and seemingly terrified, and Zoro managed to hit her, taking her down. "Crap! Square, get out of here!"

Square shook his head, focusing on Ace.

"We came here to complete a mission," he spoke, preparing to fight, "we must not leave without taking the two with us."

" _Again?"_ Nami asked, exasperated, "why are we being hunted down?! Zoro, what did you do?"

"WHY WOULD IT BE MY FAULT?"

"Who else's?" She hit him in the head. Cat-girl took the opportunity to stand up, but Nami swirled her staff and thunder suddenly hit the adversary, who fell back to the ground.

"You're the one who goes around stealing people! Maybe you stole something from them!"

"I don't steal from dangerous people!"

"Liar! You stole from Buggy and Luffy once!"

"I didn't know Luffy was dangerous!"

"Ah… Guys?" Wendy called, approaching them carefully.

"WHAT?!"

"Why don't we ask them instead of bickering?" Ace suggested, and both pirates turned to see Square tied to a tree with an ugly burn on his arms. His boomerang was now a pool of melted metal. Firefist kick Square's legs before asking, "why are you hunting them?"

"We're not," he spit the answer, and Ace's fist flamed up.

"Wanna try that again?"

"He's not lying," Wendy interrupted, attracting attention to herself, "I… I can hear his heartbeat. I learned a little bit about how heartbeats change when someone lies, and his didn't. I could be wrong though…"

"We are not after the married couple," cat-girl spoke from her place, "we… OUCH! STOP HITTING ME!"

"WE'RE NOT MARRIED!"

"N-Nami-san is scary…" Wendy whispered to Charle, who watched the scene in silence.

"The other attackers…" Charle spoke, ignoring Nami and Cat-girl's discussion, "they were also saying something about _capturing the two_ , right?"

Zoro nodded.

"Maybe they really weren't after Zoro and Nami," she continued, "what if they were after us?"

"Us? Why, Charle? We weren't on the ship."

"Lucy and Happy were, though, and it's weird that they never crossed paths with the strawhats before, and just as we arrive in this world, they come hunting them down? That makes no sense, not unless we're the target."

"Why would they want you?" Ace asked, not dismissing the theory.

"Because," Square spoke again, this time looking darker, creepier, "we need them to resurrect the sea devil, Mizuchi."

 **xx**

* * *

 **xx**

 **Author's Note:** Thank you all again for the support, it means more than I can convey in words. I won't go on name by name cause I want to finish this note soon so I can post the chapter, but really, guys, thank you so much!

As for the ship battles going on in the comments, all I'll say now is that, despite the ship being NaLu (one of them), this story isn't a romance (I guess it's kinda obvious by now, right? xD) soooooooo the ships shouldn't play any major parts here, kay? (whether it's good or bad is up to you, lovely readers!) :3


	9. Aqua Metria

"So you are members of a pirate crew who got attacked by a guy whose power scattered you all across the world? Sounds like a powerful foe."

"He's the first one our monsters couldn't defeat, which says a lot."

"Monsters?"

"That's how Usopp-kun refers to Luffy, Zoro and Sanji," Robin explained, "our captain, our swordsman and our cook."

"Swordsman?" Erza's eyes shined on that word, and she seemed very interested in that specific pirate, "is he strong?"

"He isn't one of the three monsters for nothing, y'know," Usopp commented, "you're a swordswoman, right? Where is that sword you were using?"

His jaw dropped when she made the sword appear seemingly out of nowhere in her hand and handed it to him. He grabbed it hesitantly and immediately dropped it. It was unusually and impressively heavy.

"Anyway, we need to get to Water 7," Robin spoke, as Usopp handled the sailing part, "and get a log pose or, preferably, an eternal pose to Sabaody."

"It took us weeks to reach Shabaody last time," Usopp protested, "can't we try to sail straight there?"

"Without a log pose? That's impossible. _Maybe_ if we had Nami we could try to figure out an alternative, but none of us are navigators, and Erza-san isn't even from this world."

"What do you mean by…"

"Is that a ship?," Erza interrupted them, and they both stopped chatting to look at the direction she was pointing. Indeed, a ship slowly seemed to approach their own, and after just a few minutes they were able to identify the flags: it was a Marine ship.

"Crap!" Usopp exclaimed.

"We're on a Marine ship," Robin commented, calming him down "we might be able to just pass them by without causing an incident if the two of us can hide. Erza-san isn't on a wanted poster."

"We have to turn back!" Usopp shouted, turning the ship around, not convinced by Robin's logic, "Robin! They'll know she's not a Marine!"

"Usopp, calm down and sail us away from them," Robin spoke, still calm, "we should be fine as long as the ship stays far."

Just as she said that, another Marine ship came into their line of sight. Cursing, Usopp tried to make the ship go faster, but the other one would eventually catch up.

It did just as they were about to get out of the first one's range.

"Wait right there, sir!" One of the officers shouted, and widened his eyes as he realized who he was looking at.

Usopp didn't wait, he increased their speed to the maximum and gained some distance from the other ships, but suddenly, their ship stopped.

"What the heck?!"

"Aokiji," Robin spoke, tense, as she looked around them. "The sea around us is frozen."

" _What? Why is an Admiral here?"_

A bridge made of ice suddenly formed, connecting both ships, and the marine officers moved.

Robin crossed her arms in front of her and arms grew out of the incoming officers, squeezing the air out of them. Usopp, grabbing his slingshot, started shooting at them desperately.

"We can't fight here forever! We're sitting ducks in the middle of Marine ships, Robin!"

" **Ice Make: Lance!"**

An ice made spear suddenly flew towards Robin, and Erza swiftly blocked it with a shield – who appeared in her hands out of thin air. Usopp stared surprised at it.

"You can make shields appear too?"

"That attack…" Erza spoke, ignoring the sniper, " _Gray?"_

"Erza?!" Gray, getting into their field of vision, stared surprised at the redhead, "what are you doing with pirates?"

"What are you doing attacking us?" She asked back, "get over here!"

"They're… you don't know what they're capable of!"

" _Dice Fleur,"_ Robin's voice made Erza turn to face her, just as many arms grew out of Gray's body.

He froze them all before she could make them move, and she immediately dropped the attack, panting.

 **"** Ice guy!" One of the officers called, just as Erza cut the bridge down, "stop chatting with them and take them down! We just need to stall until reinforcements arrive."

Gray didn't move, his eyes were still locked on Erza. After a minute in silence, he sighed and the ice around the ship melted.

"Go," he said, "I'll slow them down. I don't get why you're with them, but I'll trust your judgement." When she seemed about to protest, his expression softened, "trust me, too, will you? I'll find you guys, now go!"

Nodding, she told Usopp to set sail – which he was already doing – while Gray froze the entire ship he was on, and a wide area of water around it. As two other Marine ships arrived, he did the same freezing move, allowing the pirate group to escape.

"Shouldn't we have brought him with us?" Usopp asked, turning to face Erza after they reached safer waters, "he'll be arrested, or worse, for helping us."

"He can take care of himself," Erza affirmed, convinced, "I'd rather avoid battles for now, we're outnumbered and we need to find your crew – and my friends."

"You just left one of your friends behind!"

"He's the only one I don't worry about," she explained, thinking about the rest of the group. Wendy was too young to be alone in a world that seemed more violent than they were used to, and her tendency to help whoever got injured around her put her in even more danger. Lucy, although strong, wasn't as strong as the rest of them. Natsu, on the other hand, was too powerful, but also too impulsive, which could be just as dangerous as having no power at all.

Gray had power, and he tended to think things through before acting, so she didn't have to worry about him as much.

 _Why were we brought here?_

* * *

The blond was a pervert.

That's the first thing Lucy noticed. He was running like hell from the group of okama people, which was a very creepy sight, and his speed was crazy impressive: he was as fast as Jet.

The most impressive thing, however, was how much he sped up once he saw Lucy. Suddenly, he was at her side, kneeling, and looking like he was about to propose. She couldn't help but notice that he had distinctive swirly eyebrows, which, at that moment, only made him look weirder.

"Who the hell are you?!" She asked, alarmed, just as the okama reached them.

"Sanji-boy," a huge headed okama spoke, staring at the blond man, who quickly stood up and tensed, but didn't run: he looked extremely torn between the okama and Lucy. "You finally stopped!"

"How could I not, at the sight of such beauty?" He asked in a melodious tone, staring at a perplexed Lucy. "Let us run away together, my love…"

"Lucy, he lllllikes you," Happy teased, rolling his tongue as he spoke, and earning a smack on his head from the blonde girl.

"We're wasting time here, Law," one of the crewmembers spoke, attracting everyone's attention, while the captain nodded in agreement. "You're Ivankov, right?"

"I remember you, boy," Ivankov spoke, eyes locked on Law, "you saved Dragon's son's life," as she said that, Law quietly nodded.

Lucy found it hard to believe that the guy was actually capable of altruistically saving someone's life. The blonde man turned to face Law upon hearing Ivankov's words, and Lucy wondered if maybe he was a friend of Nami and Zoro. She then remembered Nami mentioning someone named Sanji once…

"We are in your debt," Ivankov continued, "how may we be of help?"

"We are looking for provisions," Law spoke, and the Okama nodded and immediately ordered that food and supplies were brought to the shore. Ivankov himself moved to bring stuff as well, but not before telling Sanji to wait for them and blinking at him.

He shivered and made a disgusted face.

"You're a straw hat, aren't ya?" Law asked Sanji, whose expression changed to serious and nearly dangerous, "your crew is heading to Sabaody."

"You've seen the others?"

"Nami-chan and Zoro-san are with my friends," Lucy spoke in a friendlier tone, though he still stared at her as if she were a dream come true. It felt awkward, even to her standards – and she had gotten used to Loke by now. "They are alright."

He seemed relieved to hear that. Lighting up a cigarrete and leading it to his mouth, he spoke again.

"I guess I must head there as well," he decided, "I don't trust that marimo to protect my Nami-swan."

"He's really strong though," Happy defended Zoro, "I think he can protect her, and they have Wendy and Charle and Ace, too."

Sanji's eyes widened at that, and he looked at the exceed as if he had just told him the sky was falling.

"What did you just say?!"

"Happy! That's supposed to be a secret, remember? You can't say that in an island full of people, if someone listens…"

"That's for real? He's dead!"

Lucy shook her head negatively, looking around for anyone overhearing before she explained.

"Our friend saved him," she told him in a low voice, "he's sailing with them until he sees his brother."

Sanji's smile was the first one that didn't seem perverted or filled with hidden intentions, which made Lucy smile as well. He was a perverted guy, yes, but he also cared about his friends.

"I need to set sail," he decided, "I assume you didn't see any ships around here?"

"You can come along," Law surprised them, and his eyes fell on Lucy, "we have no quarrel with Strawhat for now."

Sanji frowned.

"Even if you say that…"

"Lucy's with us," Bepo added, and Sanji's words died in his mouth, replaced by heart-shaped eyes and a very excited expression. "I don't know why, though," the bear added, looking intrigued at his captain, who didn't answer.

Lucy didn't realize Law had a reason for allowing her to come along – but knowing what she learned about him thus far, it made sense. He didn't seem like the guy who'd just help out strays like Nami and Zoro.

She wondered if she should be prepared to have him as an enemy, but quickly shook that thought away.

He didn't seem like an evil person despite all his flaws and mystery.

"Someone's coming," suddenly, Law spoke, facing the ocean, and indeed, three ships with no flags approaching the island.

"Enemies?" Sanji asked, now in a battle posture.

"They're like that Kaze Kaze guy's ship," Happy spoke, and Lucy nodded, "they don't have flags."

"Kaze Kaze guy?"

"Some pirates attacked us when we were with Zoro-san and Nami-chan," Lucy explained, "before we met with Wendy and Law-san in the island. They had no flags and I think they were after your friends. Why are they here though? For you?"

"For you," Law told her, surprising her, "they were after the two of you," he added, and she was about to protest. "They're strong, you should hide."

"No way! I can fight!"

"If you hide, they might not attack," Bepo protested, and she hesitated, "they don't have anything against us."

Lucy nodded after thinking it through, and she and Happy hurried to the submarine, but arrows flying at them stopped the two. One barely missed Lucy, severing a strand of her hair.

"They saw us!" Happy shouted, and took Lucy up in the air, away from the arrows. Sanji looked impressed at the exceed, not expecting it to be able to fly.

"Law-boy, here are your supplies," just then, Ivankov arrived, along with her people, and they handed Law a few sacks of food and other necessities. They stopped when they saw cannonballs coming at them.

"How are they shooting cannonballs at the beach from that distance?" Bepo asked, dodging one.

"Why are people shooting?" One of the okama asked, exasperated.

" **Death Wink!"** Ivankov suddenly attacked, shattering the next cannonballs.

"Happy, take me closer to their ships and drop me into the water," Lucy commanded, and the exceed did as she asked, dropping her a few inches from the ships, ignoring Sanji's and the okama's calls of protest.

When she didn't sink, instead getting water to surround her and shield her, they stopped shouting. She had also changed her clothes somehow, and even her hair was different.

" **Aqua Metria!"** As she chanted it, huge waves covered the ships, washing them all towards the shore in a fast speed, and making most pirates fall into the ocean due to the water nearly sinking it. As they approached the shore, the rest of the pirates and okama moved.

" **Room** ," Law called, making the dome surround himself and two ships, " **tact"**.

The ships turned upside down, in the air, and crashed full force on the sand, rendering the people there unable to fight. Lucy returned to the shore and landed next to Sanji, who just then kicked a pirate with such force that he literally flew a long distance before falling into the ocean.

"Incredible," Lucy acknowledged, " **Open, gate of the lion, Loke! Star dress: leo!"** As she spoke, holding her golden key, they all watched, perplexed, a man appearing out of thin air and her clothes changing into a dress, while her hair changed into a more sophisticated style.

"What's that Devil Fruit?" One of the okama asked, impressed.

"Devil Fruit? She can swim though!"

"Lucy, my goddess, it's lovely to see you again," Loke spoke, and Lucy sighed: not _two_ on the same day.

"Fight first, okay?" She asked, delivering a Regulus Lucy Kick on an approaching enemy. She stopped, looking around: the enemies were clearly losing, and yet they wouldn't back down. They had no numbers nor the power to defeat the group of pirates and okamas fighting.

What could they possibly want with her and Happy so badly anyway?

She looked at the black key on her keyring, wondering if it might have something to do with the object. It opened the door to the Sloth Demon, Abaddon, yet no spirits appeared when she called on it, it simply made a portal. Opening it again didn't work: she felt as if the key had died.

It had to be connected, though: it couldn't be a coincidence that she found a weird key, got transported to that world and then people started hunting them down, could it?

"Lucy! They won!" Happy called on her, snapping her back to reality. Sanji had grabbed one of the attackers by the neck and started interrogating him, but to no avail. He wouldn't speak, no matter how much Sanji kicked him up, and Loke didn't seem to scare him either.

"I don't think he knows," she spoke, watching the man carefully, and then looking around to the other defeated ones. "I think they are just following orders."

"There has to be a reason though, it can't be just a coincidence that they start hunting you as soon as you fell into this world," Loke spoke, realizing, only a second later, the implications of what he just revealed to the people around them.

Luckily the Okama were busy with Ivankov, getting rid of the pirates, and only Sanji, Law and Bepo heard the lion's words.

"Other _world?_ " Sanji inquired, lighting up a cigarrete, "that explains how you can swim and use that power of yours. So it isn't a Devil Fruit?"

"We don't even know what that is," Happy told the blond.

"We should get going," Bepo said, looking around, "there might be more of them coming for her."

Law nodded, commanding the crew to carry the supplies onto the submarine before going himself, stopping only to stare at Lucy. He didn't say a word, but she knew he was waiting on her.

She closed Loke's gate, reversing the star dress and getting back into her regular clothes to save her magic power, and hurried after the captain. She stopped, though, before boarding the submarine.

"What about him?" She asked Law, turning around to look at a troubled Sanji. He seemed like he was in actual pain from seeing the girl leave him - probably due to perv reasons, she guessed - and disgusted to stay with the okama. But he looked like the kind of man who was too proud to ask for a favor, "he's Nami-chan's friend, right?"

"He can come along," Law's words got a smile out of her, "I might need the Strawhats one day, so the more they owe me, the better.

Ignoring the enigmatic reason, Lucy called out for Sanji, whose eyes seemed to turn into actual hearts before he arrived next to her in a flash. Complaining about how annoying he was, they all boarded the submarine and it finally set sail.

* * *

 **No Author's note today. I write on my phone and it was stolen three days ago, so I lost the AN because I hadn't updated it here yet and I really don't feel like writing everything I did again. So I'll set with a simple Thank You for reading and commenting (that's the most important thing I have to say, too, really! The readers and comments mean the world to me). And thank you for all the suggestions and advices. I'll take them all into consideration.**

 **I noticed some questions, I'll address them in the next update, kay? :)**


	10. Problematic

They had a problem.

In Wendy's opinion, they actually had two problems, but they seemed to think it was just one. They said the problem was what to do with the two attackers – who now knew Ace was alive. Wendy thought that their different views on that was a bigger problem: Ace and Zoro wanted to take them along as prisoners. Nami was against that, and instead said they should just leave the two on the island, who was apparently just a forest with no means of communication and no way of getting out of unless another ship appeared. She assumed that by then, they would have joined up with Luffy and revealed Ace's survival.

Ace and Zoro disagreed and thought they could use the two as bait to lure the boss. Charle furiously opposed to that – as it would put her and Wendy in danger, which led Ace to change his mind – now opposing Zoro.

Chopper arrived in the middle of the discussion – and Wendy, Charle and Ace were surprised to see that it was a reindeer. They were even more surprised when Chopper spoke, clearly excited to see two of his friends again. The excitement faded fast as the argument resumed – and when he realized Ace was alive, freaking out about it until Nami shouted at him to calm down.

"I don't want to travel with prisoners on the ship," Chopper promptly manifested, siding with Nami, "I've seen this island, they can't get out and nobody comes here."

"We can't take that risk!" Ace protested, "look, if Luffy finds out through the news that I am alive, after so many others found out, he will be bothered. Also, if they realize that Wendy has the power to heal someone that had been fatally injured, both the Marines and pretty much every pirate crew in the world will start hunting her down. Can you imagine someone that can heal you instantly on a battlefield? That can make you invincible."

"She can also increase our speed," Zoro agreed, "she would be in danger."

"If we take them and someone attacks us, they can tell people about it and she'll be in even more danger! Not to mention the fact that they will be a constant threat, and she can't defend herself on a ship."

"I don't want to travel with prisoners," Wendy admitted shyly, finally joining the argument, and clearly displeasing both men. "I can fight if we are attacked, Ace-san," she assured him, now sounding more confident.

"Besides, she attacked the man who almost killed you in that war," Charle told them all, and they all reacted extremely surprised and alarmed to that revelation, "he might not know that she can heal, but he knows she can fight _and_ that she decided to protect you and Luffy. He's probably already looking for her."

"You attacked Akainu?!" Ace repeated, now exasperated. "Are you insane?!"

"How did you even manage to hit him? That man is a monster!" Zoro added, impressed.

"Now we are definitely going to die," Nami cried, hiding her face in her hands, "he'll find out we are hiding her and come for all of us."

"They would anyway since Luffy broke out of Impel Down _and_ messed with that war, then left alive," Zoro pointed out, "we also did declare war against them in Enies Lobby."

"Ok, we are three against two on leaving the attackers here," Ace spoke, focusing, "what about we get back to the ship and get moving before more of them come? We can talk on the ship."

Wendy groaned but agreed and they immediately went back to the ship – now with Chopper coming along. There, Nami gave Zoro instructions on where to sail towards, and Ace, Wendy, Chopper and Charle just sat down on the deck to talk and watch the stars. Well, Wendy collapsed from motion sickness.

"I might have something for that," Chopper commented, grabbing a bunch of herbs he gathered in the island and mixing them with water. He had Ace warm the water before handing it to Wendy, who drank hesitantly.

At first, she remained sick, but after a few minutes she started to feel better – until she didn't feel sick at all.

"This is amazing, Chopper-san!" She exclaimed, celebrating the fact that she could actually be on a ship without feeling extremely and unpleasantly sick, which she missed dearly ever since the motion sickness started.

"I'M NOT HAPPY, SILLY! I'M NOT HAPPY AT ALL!" Chopper suddenly ranted, blushing furiously

Ace had one knee bent so his arm rested on it, and the other leg resting on the floor. He looked at the sky, but his eyes seemed to be looking at something beyond it. Wendy noticed the tattoo on his back then and remembered that the man who called Ace a _son_ had died in the war.

"I'm sorry about your father, Ace-san," she spoke shyly and in a low voice so the others wouldn't listen – Nami and Zoro were busy bickering and Chopper was talking to Charle, who scolded him all the time. "I couldn't heal him in time…"

He immediately looked at her and put one hand on her head gently, making her stop talking.

"Nobody could ever blame that on you, kid," he commented, on a far calmer tone than his usual one. "That's a risk we take when we chose this life… The one I'll have pay for this is Blackbeard."

She had a recollection of Blackbeard's voice and how people reacted to him, but back then she had been too focused on Ace to pay much visual attention.

"Also, I lost the right to call him father-" these words surprised Wendy. Ace's hands closed into tight fists, "all this mess happened because I refused to listen when he told me not to chase Teach. _No,_ because I let Teach go rogue in the first place when he was under my command."

"I don't think that changes anything for parents," she gently suggested, then thought of something, "why did Luffy-san call him old man? Aren't you brothers?"

"Not really, and Whitebeard isn't the man who gave me life, he is just the only one I will ever accept as a father."

She smiled and hugged her knees then.

"I get it," she said, and now he looked a mixture of surprised and amused. "I was an orphan until Grandeeney found me. She's my mother because she raised me, but then she disappeared for a long time, and when I found her, she…" Wendy looked down, fighting the sad memories of the Tartaros battle.

"Heh, I would never guess someone like you would have any sort of sadness in your past," Zoro said, approaching them. Wendy heard and sensed him coming, and Ace wasn't the type to act startled, so he didn't get a reaction from suddenly meddling. "You don't have that look."

"What look?" Charle asked, joining them.

"Never mind," Ace shrugged, then lied down with his arms behind his head, "man, we really should get us some booze as soon as we can."

"I want Sanji," Chopper added, and Nami agreed to that.

"Who's Sanji?"

"Our cook," Zoro answered, "he's a pervert and annoying but his food is decent…"

"How do we even meet up with them again? We need to do something so they know we're heading to Sabaody," Nami commented, thinking.

"Do something that gets you in the news," Ace said simply, "that's the easiest way to spread the word about you. Could even help Wendy if she shows up too, her friends might see it."

"So would the people hunting her and then we'll be their target," Nami protested, clearly not willing to draw a battle to herself. "We are outnumbered and without two of our three monsters."

"We have Wendy for support and Ace for offense now, though," Zoro pointed out.

"No offense, but I don't feel all that comfortable with the odds like that, I don't feel comfortable without our whole crew." Chopper interfered, while Nami and Wendy both suddenly tensed.

The bluenette stood up and hurried to the edge of the deck, same as the navigator.

" _There's a storm coming,"_ they both said in unison, surprising one another. "Zoro, help me change our course!"

"How did you know that?" Ace asked while also moving to help, and actually aiding in giving orders – to which Nami seemed actually glad.

"I can sense the change in the air pressure," she answered, focused, "Nami-san, the storm is moving east, if we go west we can miss it!"

"It will pass inches away from us, it might still sink us!"

"I can control it," she surprised them, her tone firm and confident, "I'm sure I can control that much."

"What do you mean _control…"_

Nami didn't wait for Ace to finish his question and agreed with Wendy, changing course to west instead of southwest – which would mean going backwards and wasting time. She and Wendy stood in front of the group handling the sails and helms, until the hurricane – of huge proportions – came into view.

"Charle," Wendy called, and the Exceed grabbed the bluenette and flew with her ahead. From the distance, they couldn't see exactly what was happening, but they could see the air changing directions as if avoiding her. Then, it seemed like it was going _inside_ of her.

When the ship reached it, it wasn't strong enough to do any harm, and Wendy and Charle landed back on the ship that now had four impressed pirates.

"What did you do?"

"How did you weaken the hurricane? It looked like it went inside of you!"

"Air is my element," Wendy said, looking more energetic and stronger, "I can control it, and I trained for one year to get better at that. I can eat it, too," she explained timidly.

" _Eat_ air? How is that different than breathing?"

"Have you tried to breathe in the middle of a hurricane?" Charle questioned, shutting Zoro up.

"But that is a weird storm," Wendy said, and they all turned to look at her, "the hurricane air was full of Ethernano."

It took her a while to explain what ethernano was to the rest of them, and by the time she was done, dawn came, surprising the group who had been tired but ended up not sleeping. Upon seeing the first light, both Zoro and Ace suddenly lied down and fell asleep as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

Nami sighed at the sight of them.

"We'd better let them rest first, Nami," Chopper stated before the navigator woke the two up, "if we have to fight, we need them to be ok!"

That convinced her, and she went back to navigating, while Charle decided to fly around their area to explore. What followed were uneventful following days, as no enemies crossed paths with them. With far more ease than they expected, they finally reached Water 7.

Which looked a lot more like a warzone – even if not on the same level as Marineford.

"What is going on?" Chopper asked, apprehensively staring at the upwards built town. It still had the same shape as always, but buildings were falling, burning, and they could hear faint battle cries from afar. Well, the pirates could hear faint sounds, Wendy could hear them loud and clear. She threw a concerned glance at Ace before retreating into the ship.

"There's someone floating in the water! Look!" Zoro called, pointing at the water near the docks where, indeed, a man floated unconscious. There was no sign of people around them, everyone was probably busy with whatever war broke out in the island. Wendy had been busy trying to figure out a way to get Ace to stay on the ship when Charle gasped.

"Gray!" Wendy's head snapped and she hurried to see what Charle was seeing. The Exceed flew down to the water and returned carrying an unconscious Fairy Tail mage. Now fully focused on him, the bluenette hurried to look for wounds and heal whatever needed healing. She could hear his heartbeat, steady, and couldn't find any lethal marks anywhere.

"I think he's just exhausted," Ace told her, kneeling next to her. "I've seen plenty of wounded and dead men on the sea. He looks unharmed."

That wasn't as soothing as he probably meant it to be, but he was right about the exhaustion: Gray wasn't in danger, she assumed he would wake up soon. That brought her mind back to her main concern.

"We should find a place to hide," Nami spoke, looking up at the city. Zoro and Ace looked like two kids whose parties had just been cancelled. The navigator looked annoyed at them, "now listen here, you are not fighting because then Chopper and I will have to fight-" she told Zoro, "and you are supposed to be dead!"

"What do you expect us to do? You were the one who wanted to regroup here, get a better ship and whatnot. I don't see us doing that peacefully now, do you?" Zoro shot back.

"W-Wendy?" They both turned to look at the man they just rescued. He was sitting up, looking around confused and tired. His eyes locked on the young girl – probably due to the fact that she was the one familiar thing he could see. "What happened?"

"We ask you," Ace said, and Gray turned to look at him, tensing as he caught sight of Zoro and Nami, "you were the one floating…"

"You! You are the man that caused the war! You were supposed to be dead!"

Everyone tensed when Gray stood up and assumed a battle stance, pulling Wendy behind him protectively. The bluenette and Charle looked confused at their friend.

"H-Hey, aren't you her friend?" Nami asked, stepping ahead of Zoro and Ace, who both seemed ready to fight.

"How do you know about the war, Gray?" Charle asked, flying around him to stand next to Nami.

"Hundreds of people died thanks to him! Wendy, he's dangerous! I don't know how he would survive the level of injury I heard he…"

He seemed to realize then just _how_ someone could survive those injuries, because he slowly turned to stare at a worried Wendy, who moved around him, standing between him and the group of pirates.

She was about to explain what happened when a louder explosion on the city made them jump, alarmed. Wendy then remembered something much more dangerous she had to deal with first. Ignoring Gray, she turned to the ship's navigator.

"Nami-san, can I talk to you, please?"

Nami nodded, still tense due to the near-conflict, and moved away with the healer while Charle stayed to make sure Gray didn't decide to attack. Ace and Zoro stayed, too, though it was clear they wanted to know what she wanted to talk about.

Wendy sighed before speaking, once they were far enough so she could whisper without being heard.

"I can hear everything," she told Nami in a very low voice, "I can hear them shouting one name, and one laughter I've heard once before…"

Nami frowned, confused.

"They are calling the name of pirate that killed Ace-san's dad, and I can hear his laughter."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Ooooookay, so there's a whole debate over OP vs. FT on the comments that I definitely did not expect. I am all for healthy discussions so I'll totally support that it happens as long as y'all can keep it polite and nice, okay? I can't actually control what happens but I'll ask this: no insulting or offending others just cause their opinion differs from yours, please. If you're here I'll assume it's because you like both stories to some extent, and even if you prefer one, you can't expect everyone to share that preference. I'll also dare say this: both sides vouching for which characters are stronger are wrong and right at the same time, because since there's no way of actually testing it – and if it were put to test, it would be up to Oda and Hiro's wishes anyways – none of you can claim to be correct or wrong. Just agree to disagree, guys, and have fun trying to convince the others to see it your way.**

 **For the ones actually reviewing, thanks for the compliments, suggestions and corrections! I'm taking all of it under consideration, I swear. I'll disagree with the whole "only One Piece uses the power of friendship" and "only Fairy Tail uses power of friendship" thing because honestly I think both stories – and pretty much every other manga/anime – do that, and there's only so much logic one can apply to a fight between people with magic powers (that itself is illogical after all).**

 **Thank you for reading, and I hope you stick around! J**


	11. Connection

_Anger._

 _Rage._

 _Pain._

 _So much pain._

 _Make it stop!_

 _Make it go away!_

 _Where was everyone? Why couldn't anyone make it stop? Why did he suddenly feel so alone? Why was it so dark? He wanted light!_

 _He couldn't see. He couldn't hear anything, either. All he could do there was feel – but he didn't want to feel!_

 _He knew pain – he had lost and been hurt before, but never to that extent. He still couldn't believe that he lost… right in front of his eyes…_

 _No! You don't know for sure that it happened!_

 _They had just found each other again, too! They barely had the time to talk, to catch up. No, they had absolutely no time to talk and catch up. His own impulsiveness and the troubles that seemed to follow him – or maybe follow them? - got in the way and took away any free, light moments._

 _This was hell! He did not want to keep going through such depressing thoughts. He hurt again – now it felt worse. Why did it feel worse? It should at least feel better with time. Pain fades eventually, he learned. It always faded._

 _It didn't feel like it would fade this time, though._

 _He heard voices: women. Three women were talking, but it was too dark for him to see. He also realized, upon trying to move, that he could not: he was trapped inside a cage, like an animal – he felt like one, too. He couldn't use his skills, and even his physical strength seemed to dim inside that cage. Weird. It wasn't made of anything that should be able to suppress him._

 _The voices got gradually louder. Now a man had joined the group. No, not one man, two. As they approached, the cage seemed to disappear and he could move freely again – was the cage ever even there? Maybe it was his imagination: he certainly felt caged, even if there were no concrete bars around him._

 _How else would he explain that pain that wouldn't end? If he were truly free, he would be able to flee from it, would he not? Instead he was stuck with the pain, wherever he went, the pain went along. Or maybe he just never truly went anywhere: the pain kept him still, under the eternal illusion that he was free._

 _The cage was back. The voices grew louder. He banged on the bars, ignoring the sharp pain that shot through his fists – that kind of pain he didn't mind. He actually welcomed it: it distracted him from the worse pain, the one he couldn't shake._

 _The voices were merely a dozen feet away now. He banged on the bars again, and a man yelled. No, not a man, he yelled. He had been yelling all that time. The voices weren't there to keep him company: they were there to check on him, to make sure he wasn't dying. Apparently, he was needed alive._

 _Of course they need me alive. They can't afford to kill one more person the way they killed the first._

 _He tried shutting his own mind up._

 _The voices started to fade. He banged on the bars again. Sweat dripped from his face and neck and he dried his forehead quickly. He had to get out of there. If he couldn't go back and change the past, he sure as hell could make sure those bastards never had a future._

 _Cold, crude, angry feelings took over him. He had never felt less human, more like a monster. He had lost, yes, but what could he do about it? Nothing. He could do nothing about the loss. But he could do something about the guilty. He could hunt._

 _He could beat them up into a pulp, make them suffer, make them…_

 _He could avenge her._

 _Adjusting his scarf, he banged on the bars one last time before stepping back and…_

"LUCY!"

A loud crack echoed. A mess of blonde hair, little clothing and blankets rose from the ground, and just as a thin, swirly eyebrows man reached the noisy area, she adjusted herself more properly – causing him to start doing pirouettes.

Lucy adjusted her hair and skirt and dropped the blanket back on the bed they had assigned for her. She shivered, her last dream still playing vividly in her mind. _It was too vivid_. She had never experienced something like that, and wished she had someone to talk about it. She couldn't summon her spirits at will – she needed to save her energy. Apparently that world made her use a lot more magical energy on simpler things.

"Lucy!" Happy called again, landing next to her, "are you okay?"

She nodded, forcing a smile.

"It was just a nightmare, Happy. Don't worry about it..."

"Goddess Lucy!" A singing weird voice made Lucy look behind her just in time to see Sanji arriving with a plate of food. Bepo and another pirate from Law's crew followed close behind, both complaining and yelling about something.

Lucy rubbed her tempers: her head hurt. However, as soon as the smell of the food Sanji carried reached her, she felt extremely hungry, and looked amazed at the plate. Whatever it was, it looked absolutely delicious.

"YOU CAN'T GO COOKING STUFF IN OUR SHIP!"

"I want food too!"

So that was what Bepo and his colleague were shouting at Sanji, who seemed deaf and unaware of their presence there. The blonde's eyes locked on Lucy, awaiting for her to move and pick the plate of food.

She did so, and sat down by a small table to eat. As she took the first bite, her mouth filled with water and she felt a weird, but cozy, feeling spread over her. That was probably the best thing she had ever eaten! Quietly, and suddenly starving, she eat the whole thing, only stopping once the plate was empty and the two pirates were gone, leaving her alone with Happy and Sanji.

"This was delicious, Sanji-san," she spoke, finally, and literally saw his eyes turn into weird hearts. She moved away from him, finding his expression way too creepy, and turned to look at Happy, who seemed to be enjoying that entire scene.

"What was your nightmare about, Lucy?" Happy asked curiously, ignoring Sanji, who suddenly broke into making love declarations and wedding proposals. He stopped, however, to hear what she had to say – she wished he didn't, it made it a lot harder.

Taking a deep breath, she told them all about her nightmare. She began by describing what she could of the place – dark, scary, quiet – and followed with what it felt like being there. She stopped then, puzzled: in her dream, she had never actually _been_ in the place, she was a bystander watching someone else there… Someone she knew…

The image seemed to slip from her grasp the more she tried to grab for it. She realize the memory of the dream was fading, and tried to hurry and tell them everything she could remember. How lonely she felt, the despair, the sadness, the rage, the _guilt…_ she remembered feeling so much guilt she felt like she could drown in it.

Yet… was it her that felt all of those stuff? No, those were someone else's feelings – the person locked in the cage.

 _Who was locked in that cage?_

"This is just a bad nightmare, though, right?" Happy tried to reassure her, seeing how shaken she was.

She shook her head negatively.

"I don't know why, but I feel like it's more than just a nightmare…"

"I will kick whoever tries to hurt you before they can even lay eyes on you, Goddess Lucy!" Sanji promised in his usual drooling voice. Lucy nodded, forcing a smile…

"He actually sounded like Natsu now," Happy commented, thoughtful, "except for the Goddess..."

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted, covering her mouth with her hands and widening her eyes, suddenly struck by horror. "Happy! That's it! On the cage… No, it can't be… How..."

Happy and Sanji looked lost at her words. She grabbed a silver key.

"Open, Gate of the Southern Cross Key, Crux!"

Happy received the old cross man with curiosity and worry: Lucy went _very weird_ at the mention of Natsu's name, and the exceed didn't like that. The blonde, however, didn't even glance at her blue companion – nor did she pay attention to Sanji's shocked expression at the appearance of a floating sleeping cross. She focused on her spirit, and asked it whether or not what she saw in her dream could be true, and whether the spirit could tell her anything about Natsu's location.

The answer to the second question was negative – he couldn't find the dragon slayer. However, he went into his searching trance mode for the first one, and, after a few minutes, returned from it with bad news:

"Your specific dream was no dream, Lucy-san," he spoke, "it was the present."

" _The present?_ As in, what I saw is currently happening?"

"Yes."

"B-But… Where? Where is… Where is that place?"

"That, I do not know, and something is blocking me from finding out. Us, spirits, have little liberty in this world, Lucy-san, and going too far might be dangerous."

"Why can I see it though? Charle's the psychic, I'm not," she protested weakly, still hoping beyond hope that the spirit was wrong. But deep down she knew it was foolish: Crux had never been wrong before.

"Because, like one of your friends, your magic is connected to another world, and it attracts messengers in this world. You are susceptible to receiving messages that not necessarily are for you."

"My dream was a _message?"_

She wanted to ask Crux what he meant by _'like one of your friends'_ , but her time with the spirit was up and she had to – reluctantly – close its gate. No matter how much she needed answers, she could never break a contract with a spirit over them: she respected and loved her spirits way too much.

"Lucy, what is going on? What did you see? Where is Natsu?" Happy asked, sounding scared.

Lucy hugged Happy.

"I'm sorry, Happy… In the dream, the person in the cage… the one feeling all those emotions I told you, it wasn't m-me… It… It w-was Natsu."

She stuttered at the end, too afraid to say those words out loud: it made them more real.

She had been worried about Natsu, Erza and Gray, of course. She always worried, and she knew they'd been in terribly dangerous situations before: that wasn't the part that fazed her. Even in face of danger, Natsu was always… positive. He was a fighter, the kind whose spirit burned just as his fire. However, in her dream, Natsu was… he was hopeless.

The cage and the idea that he had been taken prisoner didn't terrify her: the idea of a hopeless Natsu, however, did. _What_ could they possibly have done to him to crush his spirit like that?

She shivered, barely realizing that one tear had escaped her. Happy was frozen, probably in shock.

Sanji lit up a cigarette, and his next words made Lucy feel a lot friendlier towards the pervert:

"Well, I guess this means we'll go on a rescue mission."

 _Ten Minutes Later_

"HOW DARE YOU REFUSE TO HELP A GODDESS IN DISTRESS?"

They were with Law and Bepo now. After Sanji decided that he would lead them into a rescue party - which sounded fine with Lucy, except for the fact that she knew Sanji had to find his own crew and captain -, they went and informed the submarine's captain about their plan. Well, Sanji did, Lucy only told him everything that happened prior to the 'let's save him' decision. She told him about her nightmares, about how her spirit explained that it was real - and happening at that moment - and even summoned Plue to prove that she wasn't bluffing on the spirit part (she couldn't summon Crux again so soon due to her contract). Now, while Plue and Bepo seemed engaged in a very deep, very serious conversation, the others discussed what to do.

Law - as Lucy expected - wasn't as keen on hurrying to save her friend as the blond was. Again, Law wasn't trying to win her over or anything, so there was that.

In fact, his reaction was to tell them that they would be arriving in Sabaody soon, and there the two could wait for the rest of Luffy's crew. _"I am sure Strawhat will jump at the chance to fight and help people,"_ he said.

Which made Lucy feel very friendly towards the Strawhat kid, though she never met him. She knew Wendy decided to help him, knew he was Ace's brother - a guy she met briefly, but for some reason she felt he could be trusted - and knew he believed his brother was dead. She hoped Wendy and Ace could reach him soon.

"It's okay if he doesn't want to help," Lucy spoke up, interfering when it looked like Sanji was about to attack Law, who looked as cool and calm as ever. She wondered if anything could ever unfaze him.

"No it isn't! He invited you along, did he not?"

"Not really," Happy spoke, but his voice wasn't as light or friendly - he, too, was worried about Natsu, "They decided that splitting our group up into two different ships would make it easier to find everyone we need to find, and he agreed to let us come."

"Which we appreciate," Lucy added politely, "We did manage to find Sanji-kun, after all," she added, and Sanji finally calmed down, looking blissfully at her after she said his name, "but we can't ask for help saving someone they don't even know."

"We would do it," Happy protested.

She shrugged.

"We're Fairy Tail. That's how we are, isn't it? Not everyone's the same."

Truthfully, she did feel a tinge of resentment, but in the year the guild was apart, she came to realize that Fairy Tail's tendency to help those in need - even if it wasn't part of a job - was not a normal thing. Not everyone jumped into trouble for the sake of random people: this was something she grew to love even more about her guild during her year alone.

Sanji muttered something and left, probably to avoid conflict - or because he wanted to cook, she wouldn't know.

"You never do things without a reason."

She wasn't asking, but he simply nodded in agreement.

"Yet you said yes to Happy and I, and even to Sanji coming along," she continued. He still didn't speak, "what is your reason?"

He remained quiet.

"I think you want something from us, but it makes no sense since Happy and I aren't even from this world. The only connection you have to us is through Nami-chan, who is in a rival crew to yours according to what I've picked up on, and the reason you went to her in the first place is someone named Shanks, who is also the guy who took Wendy and Ace to the island," she smiled when he finally reacted, "he sounded like a big deal. Is he the one you're looking to reach?"

He still didn't answer.

"We can't help you with that. The only person he knows is Wendy, and as interesting as she may have looked, with her powers and all, he still let her go. So, if that is the reason, I am sorry to disappoint, and we will leave your crew as soon as possible. I will rescue Natsu, with or without help. I'll definitely do it."

She knew, deep down, that going alone was a huge risk, and she wasn't as strong as the rest of Team Natsu, but she also knew that, if roles were reversed, he would have moved heaven and hell to rescue her - even if his chances were low.

She also knew he would succeed, and so would she.

Law tilted his head, watching her. It seemed like he was searching for something, and whatever it was, he apparently found.

"This should be an interesting warm up for the New World," he spoke, after some time in silence, "we have to wait until the Marines ease on the security around the Red Wall, anyway, for now, I am willing to join forces."

The way he spoke made Lucy feel like he would be asking for something in return later on, but she didn't care: until she could get a hold of the other Fairy Tail members, she would take all the help she could get.

 _Natsu. We're coming._

* * *

They sailed for what felt like eternity without reaching any islands. Erza, who at first enjoyed the ocean, the infinity of it, now could not wait to reach land. She had to admire the people in this world: according to Usopp, many of them spent their lifes at sea looking for a piece of something. Oddly, he never answered what exactly that piece was, only that it was unique and it was hidden by the previous king of pirates.

She assumed it would be a very powerful piece.

They ran into some monsters that seemed eager to eat ship inhabitants, but both Erza and Robin dealt with them easily - while Usopp kept yelling threats from a safer zone.

She found she enjoyed Usopp's and Robin's company. Usopp had a talent for telling stories - complete lies, but stories nonetheless - and drawing her attention to them, and usually the stories were interesting enough - she'd dare say some of the adventures he told sounded as interesting as some of her own adventures with Fairy Tail. Robin pitched in here and there to tell her what parts of the adventures actually happened and what had been added by Usopp.

Robin was quieter - she didn't look like someone who could ever get angry. She made Erza think of Mirajane for a moment - although Mira had a goofy side, whereas Robin apparently did not. She loved history, too, which was very helpful when Erza asked them to tell her a little about their world.

Basically that's how their sailing went, until...

"I see a blue fish!" Usopp yelled from his place on top of the mast. He looked at the horizon with his binnoculars.

"Good for you, Usopp-kun," Robin answered distracted, while Erza cooked them something to eat.

"No! A blue fishman," Usopp corrected himself, and Robin immediately stood up and looked at the direction Usopp was pointing. Erza, noticing the change in the woman's posture, followed, and a ship slowly began to approach them.

Usopp got his kabuto and aimed, but Robin told him to hold.

"That's not just any fishman," Robin spoke, and Erza realized she had crossed her arms - the way she did when she used her powers. The redhead guessed eyes had grown somewhere that allowed the pirate woman to see closely, "that's Jinbe, former shichibukai!"

"Jinbe?!" Usopp got down from the mast to join them, "so does that mean he'll attack us? Robin! We can't go up against a shichibukai on our own!"

Just as he said that, Robin steered the ship _towards_ the other one. Erza didn't question her, just prepared to fight if needed. She kept reminding herself that most people on that planet seemed to have water as a weakness.

Indeed, once they got so close the ships could crash, she saw what Usopp meant by _blue fishman_. The man - for it was a man - looked like a blue fish, and not the harmless kind. He had a few crew members working the sails, but Jinbe himself stood staring at the group, his eyes lingering longer on Robin.

"Strawhat crew, aren't you?" He asked, looking at Robin again.

"I supposed you've seen the Wanted posters," she spoke and he nodded, "we are not looking for trouble."

"With that captain of yours? Hard to believe that," he answered back and Robin and Usopp reacted surprise: though she didn't get as loud as he did. Jinbe raised one hand when Usopp began shouting stuff. "I assume you have heard from your captain?"

"Luffy's alright then?" Usopp asked, suddenly forgetting he was angry.

Jinbe frowned.

"So you did not hear. Luffy broke into the marine base and sent a signal to his crew - or at least that's what Raileigh informs me. He is asking you to meet after two years..."

"What? No!" Usopp snapped, "I mean... we could use the training and I get why he wants some time alone, but... we..."

"Is he safe?" Robin inquired, crossing her arms and relaxing slightly at Jinbe's confirmation. "We will agree to it, then," she smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes, "we should set course for a specific island and each go our separate ways to train, Usopp. After we help Erza, that is..."

"I will be fine," Erza assured them, "as long as we reach an island."

"You're not too far from Water 7. About a day away, in fact," Jinbe informed them, and then spoke something to one of his crew members, who ran belowdeck and returned with an eternal logpose - now Erza knew what it looked like. "You can get enough logposes there for all of you, and it won't be as swarmed with Marines as Sabaody."

"Why are you helping us?" Erza asked, suspicious.

"Luffy-kun released me from Impel Down, and Ace was a great guy," Jinbe answered without faltering, "farewell, strawhats."

With that, they sailed away, leaving a very puzzled group behind. Usopp quickly took the Eternal Pose and adjusted their course to follow its directions. Hopefully they could reach Water 7 before nightfall.

* * *

 **A/N: No real Author's note this time cause I'm in a crazy schedule. Thank you for reading this far, and I hope you continue around :D I really appreciate all the comments and helpful suggestions!**


	12. Florian Triangle

"I'm confused," Happy spoke, his voice breaking the weird silence that spread through the room, "how are we supposed to find Natsu if we can't find the island he's in without that branch?"

"Log pose, not branch!" Bepo shouted at the exceed, who hid behind Lucy.

"We cannot even try to guess where he is with the little information she gave us," Law spoke, approaching them, "we aren't far from Water 7 according to our navigator, and we own an Eternal Pose, so until you can dream about the place again, or find clues some other way, we are heading there."

"Water 7? Are we going backwards?" Sanji asked surprised.

"Water 7 isn't so far from Sabaody," Bepo spoke, and something in the way he looked at his captain made Lucy think there was more to the place. She, however, simply thanked them, since she had no other way of getting information but to rely on them. At least until they met with another one of Sanji's crewmembers.

They sailed underwater for most of the way, with Bepo's navigational skills impressing Lucy. She got used to the idea of a talking and intelligent bear quickly, given how she was friends with other talking creatures - namely Happy, Charle and Lily. That, plus the fact that her world had dragons.

But to think that said bear knew how to navigate smoothly around those crazy seas... When even Crux and Pyxis couldn't help at all... she had to be impressed.

She made herself work wherever and however she could all the time. Whenever she stopped for too long, she found herself thinking of Natsu and she felt desperate and powerless. Staying active helped diminish the agony to some extent.

For the following days, she had no dreams and no nightmares - which frustrated her given that she actually needed to see Natsu again. It was their only hope of finding where he was.

They were approaching a foggy area of the seas – though Lucy only caught a glimpse of the atmosphere when the submarine emerged so they could get some fish - when Sanji received a troubling newspaper. Lucy and Happy joined him to read it - she wanted to read anything she could about that world - and he stopped on an article about 'Strawhat Luffy'.

Said person broke into the government base and rang a bell sixteen times. While Lucy read the news, Sanji's eyes seemed to have locked on the picture.

"This is troublesome," he spoke, lighting up a cigarette.

"What is?"

"Luffy, my captain, lost his brother in the war that just happened," he started explaining, just as Law entered the room, "oi, Law, you were there right?"

The pirate nodded.

"Seems that your captain is sending you a message," Law spoke, "I helped treat his wounds, and I don't remember seeing that tattoo," he added and Lucy and Happy focused on the image.

On Luffy's arm there was a 3D2Y tattoo, with the 3D part crossed.

"He wants us to meet in two years rather than two days," Sanji spoke, "which changes the plan here. We can't depend on the crew anymore," he looked at Lucy, who struggled to understand.

"It's his captain's orders," Law explained, "they can do whatever in the two year gap, but they are not supposed to meet him."

"But his brother's not dead," Lucy commented, remembering the guy near Wendy. The news stated that Luffy's brother was Firefist Ace, which was also how they called the guy Wendy had saved.

Sanji nodded, looking troubled.

"Can the two of you please explain again how the heck the guy survived? The entire world thinks he's dead."

"I don't know how they fooled the world," Lucy started, "but Wendy was in that war, probably fell there when we were brought to this world. She saved him."

"Wendy?" Law repeated.

"Blue haired girl, she's fourteen... looks naive and sweet and cute... She healed you," Happy described, and Law nodded.

"Who's Wendy?" Sanji inquired.

"Our friend, like Happy said, she's young, so maybe if she showed up in the middle of a war, people would overlook her. Maybe the Marines would even try to protect her, seeing that their job is to protect innocent people," Lucy explained, "but she's strong, and she can heal people. As long as someone's even slightly alive, she can save them. My guess is that she healed Ace's wounds without people seeing it, and thus saved his life."

"Heal people?" Sanji repeated and stared at Law. "Aren't you the best at doing that? With that power of yours?"

"I cannot reverse someone's burned body," Law spoke, "his organs were burned completely, or so I've heard. I arrived _after_ they assumed he'd died already."

"Wendy can," Happy spoke, "she's strong and she can. We can guarantee that, Wendy is why he's alive right now."

Lucy nodded and waited for her words to sink in. Law didn't look surprised- he looked intrigued, and she remembered how interested he seemed after Wendy healed him. Sanji, on the other hand, looked torn. He stared at the paper again in wonder, and crushed it in his hands.

"I don't want to disobey his orders," he spoke finally, "we can't be sure if they would be different had he seen that Ace survived. He's with Rayleigh, they must have a plan. I don't even know where he is. I can, however, help you," his eyes fell on Lucy, and he looked determined, "if your friend saved Ace, our crew is in your debt, even if they don't know it."

"Nami and Zoro know," Lucy spoke helpfully, "they're with Ace and Wendy now."

Sanji nodded.

"So we should meet them," he decided, "and find your friend."

Lucy nodded. Before, splitting up meant covering more ground - well, water - to find everyone, but now that they knew one of them was truly in danger, they needed the strength in numbers.

"Besides, I'm worried about Wendy-chan," Sanji added and he and Law exchanged a knowing look.

Lucy waited.

"There is no power that can heal people in this world, not like this, not that we know of," Law explained, "if the WG or the stronger pirates find out about her..."

"She'll be the most wanted person in this world," Sanji finished his explanation.

Lucy sighed and looked out, seeing nothing but darkness. She frowned, trying to understand just what she was looking at, since she was pretty sure they weren't deep enough that light wouldn't reach them.

Bepo called out for Law, and she saw the rest of the crew moving along, following his orders and changing their direction, but the water remained dark as a starless night.

Sanji watched with her, seemingly intrigued, but at the same time not interested enough to help.

"What is with this darkness? It's not supposed to be night yet!" One of the pirates complained.

"It's probably a thick fog blocking the light," Sanji told them and Law stared at him, "I noticed a bit of fog when your submarine went above water earlier, I should have realized. We are probably in the middle of the Florian Triangle."

Realization shone in Law's eyes, whereas Bepo and the others looked all the more confused.

He was about to say something when the submarine crashed with a loud sound. They turned, alarmed, just as water started flooding in.

* * *

Wendy and Nami returned to Ace and the others. Zoro and Chopper had been keeping both Ace and Gray apart, but they seemed ready to go at each other's throats at any minute - and even Zoro seemed tempted to attack Gray.

"We're setting sail," Nami announced, while Charle flew around them surveilling the area.

"What?!" the three men protested and Wendy giggled, "we can't!"

"We need provisions," Ace spoke.

"We need weapons and a better ship," that came from Zoro.

"We need medicine," Chopper raised his voice.

"We need to stop the pirates!"

They all turned to Gray.

"That," Nami spoke coolly, "is exactly what we do not need to do," she told him in such a cold and angry voice that he silenced, "we can get stuff on another island. Sabaody is close, we can meet..."

"You cannot meet there," Ace interrupted her, and threw her the newspapers, "my brother sent you a message."

Nami frowned and read the news. Wendy recognized Luffy in the picture, and saw Nami tense.

"2 years...? But that's... he thinks you're dead!" She turned to Ace, "he wouldn't do this otherwise."

"Well, regardless, he's our captain and he decided right?" Zoro spoke, now serious, "we can't go against his orders."

"So are we supposed to let him think Ace's dead?" Nami demanded angrily.

"He's not our captain," Charle commented and they all turned to her, "we can meet him," she added and looked at Wendy and Ace, who both nodded.

"Although this might be what he needs to get stronger," Ace commented, reading the news, "the Dark King's with him, he's definitely planning to train or something."

"Can we decide what to do about Luffy after we set sail?" Nami asked nervously as an explosion sounded near them. Unfortunately, just then, they heard a loud - and, to Wendy, familiar - voice.

Ace and Wendy both tensed and Nami's eyes widened. Zoro frowned, looking puzzled. Chopper started shivering.

"I know this voice," Zoro spoke and looked at Nami, "from Mock Town..."

"Blackbeard!" Ace growled and his hands lit up on fire. They all jumped away from him.

"Ace-san," Wendy called, "please don't do anything..."

Too late. Now in his fire body, he jumped into town, burning a few pirates who jumped to block him. Nami called out, but he didn't seem to hear or care.

"What is he-" Gray started, shocked.

"That idiot!" Zoro cursed, grabbing his swords, "Nami! Chopper! We have to go, too."

Nami and Chopper both whined and covered their face in exasperation, but eventually the girl nodded.

"I wouldn't forgive myself if we let him do something stupid now," she agreed finally, grabbing her clima tact. Wendy found that weapon fascinating, but had no time yet to learn more about it.

"Charle," she called and the exceed spread her wings, "Gray-san, we can explain later, but I want to help them. Even if they are pirates."

Gray looked at Wendy in silence, and after sometime, nodded and jumped off the ship as well. While Nami tagged along Zoro, the ice mage waited for Chopper who seemed scared out of his mind.

"Wendy!" Chopper called and she and Charle slowed down, and landed near them, while Gray fended off pirates, "don't let them know what you did," he told her, "it would put you in great danger."

Nodding, she and Charle flew away, following Ace's scent. It felt to her like a smaller version of the war, with people screaming and killing and bleeding and dying - and that creepy laughter.

Some pirates shouted as Ace burned them, saving citizens along the way. Wendy managed to drop in front of Firefist just before he came into Blackbeard's view.

Ace, who'd been about to destroy a building, stopped shortly of hitting her.

"Out of my way!" He yelled at her.

"Ace-san! We can't! You need to find Luffy-san first, and we're only five people! We can't fight him like this!"

"Go back to the ship," Ace spoke firmly, "get the Strawhats and set sail..."

Suddenly thunder hit their surroundings, taking down a number of pirates, and Nami arrived with Chopper.

"That's not an option," she told him, "what kind of people would we be if we just abandoned our captain's brother?"

"Where's Zoro?" Charle inquired as Gray arrived.

"Lost," Chopper and Nami answered together, "that idiot!"

"I'll find him," Charle spoke, while Ace and Gray fought off incoming enemies, "go back to the ship!"

She flew away.

"GET DOWN!" Wendy shouted, moving her arms so the air forced them all down just as a whip-looking dark thing flashed around the place they had just been, cutting down buildings and trees instead.

They all moved apart and to their feet.

"No way!" A male voice coming from above reached their ears. It was a thin man wearing goggles, looking shocked, "That's impossible!"

"Hey, Lafitte, what are you relaxing for? Fight!" A fat man jumped next to Lafitte and looked down, "whoa! How is that possible?"

Both of them stared at Ace, who flamed up, whereas Nami and Chopper hid behind Gray.

"What are you two playing at?" A third man joined them and looked down. "Oi! Boss! It's Ace!"

The battlefield froze.

Not literally - though Gray seemed ready to do something - but every single person there stopped.

Suddenly, Wendy let out a loud scream.


	13. Icy Mirage

"Happy? Are you alright?" Erza asked gently.

"What happened to you? Are you here to fight?" Usopp questioned Law in a very loud and panicky voice.

" **Room"** Law moved his hand and his fingers and a bubble-looking dome surrounded them and went into the thick fog, " _shambles_."

Suddenly, two more people showed up in the ship's deck, next to Law himself. They both had messy hair and torn clothes and were unconscious.

 _"Lucy!"_

 _"Sanji!"_

Erza and Usopp looked at one another, each having said one different name. Robin, in the meantime, sprouted hands to move them both into a more comfortable position.

"We were attacked, I drew them away so the crew could escape," Law explained while the trio looked between him, the flying cat and the two unconscious blonde haired people.

"Someone managed to force you to escape?" Usopp shivered, "are they following you? Hey! Are they? Robin! We should toss him out and run! And wake Sanji up to fight!"

"Toss him out _where?_ " Erza turned to Usopp, "there's only water around us."

"Erza! L-Lucy… we have to wake up Lucy!" Happy spoke, and the redhead looked down at the exceed again, "we have to save Natsu!"

Erza frowned.

"Someone attacked you and managed to win against _Natsu_? When Lucy was around?" She asked, impressed. It was no secret that Natsu fought thrice as hard when the blond was in danger.

Happy shook his head negatively.

"My job here is done, tell the mage that I am willing to break a deal to help her if she's still interested," Law spoke up, interrupting them, before using his Devil Fruit again and disappearing. A small paper appeared in his place. Erza picked it up and looked at it curiously.

"A Vivre Card," Robin spoke, looking at it, "Lucy, your friend, should be able to find him again with this if she so wishes. Before you tell them what happened, little cat, can we agree to keep following the Eternal Pose? It's unwise to stay still in this area for long."

Everyone agreed, so Robin asked Usopp to help her while Erza nd Happy went to the center of the deck, where they sat down to talk. Happy tried to wake Lucy and Sanji up but to no avail.

"I am assuming I should be thanking that guy for taking my friends along?" Erza asked Happy, who nodded.

"They only took me and Lucy because we asked," Happy shrugged, "we were the attackers' target. Someone's been hunting us down ever since we arrived here. Law and Sanji helped fight them and keep Lucy safe. Sanji seemed really determined to protect Lucy. He seems to like her."

Usopp slapped his own forehead looking a mixture of exasperated and annoyed.

"This sounds like Sanji alright," he muttered,

"Since Luffy doesn't want to meet anytime soon, there's no reason why he shouldn't help her. We could, too, I guess," Robin pointed out.

"Luffy is your captain, too?" Happy asked Usopp and Robin, and they both nodded, "so Nami and Zoro are your friends, right?"

"You've seen them?" Usopp smiled instantly.

"Aye! They're with Wendy and Charle," Happy looked at Erza, who relaxed a little at the mention of the group's youngest member, "the people who attacked us might attack them, too. Lucy thinks they're after all seven of us," he added.

"So we really are in danger!" Usopp whined, wiping sweat off his forehead.

They took turns telling what each of them had been doing up to their meeting, with everyone but Happy speaking.

"What happened to Lucy then?" Erza asked Happy.

"We were in a foggy area," he started, looking at the Florian Triangle that stayed behind, "and suddenly another submarine appeared and attacked us. Bepo had to move the submarine we were on above water so Law could fight back, but there were four other ships waiting," Usopp's eyes widened, "Sanji fought, too, but when some of the attackers got closer, he chose to protect Lucy. She started running out of magic, it's been happening a lot since we got here."

Erza frowned.

"She's been running out of magic?" Erza repeated, wondering if magic there was somewhat harder to use. Maybe Lucy had been using it more often than Erza herself, which is why the redhead hadn't noticed it yet.

"Aye! She said this world consumes it faster or something. Maybe that's how they captured Natsu, right?"

" _Who_ captured Natsu, Happy? You never mentioned him in this story."

"This is giving me a headache," Usopp complained, rubbing his head.

"Aye! It's confusing!" Happy said in a high pitched voice, though it wasn't as cheery as his usual self, "but then the whole battle became confusing, and Lucy asked me to fly her away so the enemies would follow us. When we started flying, someone shot me down and Law suddenly disappeared and reappeared everywhere, it was fast and confusing… but he started drawing them away... until he fell on the water. So I dropped Lucy with Sanji and went to catch him, but when I did that a man with weird hands caught up to Lucy and did something that made the two of them pass out. They were about to be taken when you rescued us and Law used his power to bring them here."

Erza nodded, barely believing their luck. If they had been just a tad slower, Lucy would have been captured.

"They'll wake up and we're a bigger group now, we can fight back if we have to," she assured Happy, "we'll find Gray, Wendy, Charle and Natsu and figure out how to go home soon, ok?" Though I still don't understand what Natsu's got to do with this story."

"I don't know much about that either. Lucy had a dream and said he is in danger, and she was scared and weird," he shrugged, his huge eyes looking clueless and worried.

Erza nodded.

"We'll find him too. Robin, you said you think your crew will meet up in the place we're heading to, right?"

"Before our captain told us to wait, yes. Now I'm not sure. But if Nami and Zoro are with your friend, they might help her meet up with the rest of your group."

Erza nodded.

"So we try to do that, focus on finding the group that Wendy's with. It should be easier to track down infamous pirates than it would be to track down our group since we're all unknown in this world. Plus, assuming Natsu really is trapped, Wendy is the only Dragon Slayer left and we will need her senses. Her powers, too."

Happy nodded, and they all turned to Robin and Usopp for guidance on how to help sailing the ship. Every now and then, they checked on Lucy and Sanji.

 _This time there was fire._

 _It burned everywhere._

 _He could almost feel it touching his skin. Almost taste it._

 _The hunger was unbearable. His stomach hurt - his entire body hurt, and food was right there! A few inches away._

 _If he could just eat, he could break out._

 _A female laughter caught his attention and he turned. Long thin fingers touched his cheek through the cage, almost like caressing a domestic animal._

 _Only he wasn't anything like a quiet settled type, and she knew it, for she retreated her hand fast._

 _"Hungry, are we? We know your food preferences. This must be torture," she smiled provocatively and moved away from him. She picked up a burning stick and drove it close to him. He instinctively moved towards it, opening his mouth..._

 _She moved it away._

 _He growled. The sound was animalistic, beastly even, almost as if he really were a creature, not a human being._

 _He surely felt an animalistic urge to attack her. Attack anyone and anything that could provide him some sort of food._

 _She turned around and left him. He saw her walk away, through some stone ruins, and on one of them there was a message written in blood. His blood._

 _The Turnabout Point._

Lucy woke up gasping.

* * *

Nami's heart was beating so fast she was pretty sure it would fly off. She still couldn't believe the situation they ended up in, and couldn't even decide whether they had been lucky or unlucky.

When Blackbeard, the man who stole Whitebeard's Devil Fruit and orchestrated the entire war to begin with by capturing Ace, appeared in front of them, darkess - pure, empty, darkness, surrounding him and making it seem like time had stopped still, she was one hundred per cent sure they were done for.

Ace actually froze for a slight second, too, probably out of rage, not fear, but whatever it was, saved their lives.

Wendy screamed, covering her ears and saying something about _noise_. It didn't seem like the regular, battlefield related, noise was bothering her - it hadn't been before. She started when Blackbeard appeared with his darkness. Nami wondered if she could sense something nobody else could out of that.

It was Gray who saved their asses. Taking advantage of Ace's split-second hesitation, the mage pushed the pirate away and made an exact replica of Ace - even his pose - out of ice. Nami, picking up on his idea without even asking him, used her mirage tempo to make a second one, with color, next to it, and then a bunch of others.

Slowly they were surrounded by mirage-Aces, so many that Charle and Chopper managed to sneak away with the real one.

Leaving Nami, Wendy and Gray alone to face off a very annoyed Blackbeard, who didn't think their little trick was funny or impressive. Apparently seeing Ace made him think he had failed at the one thing he worked hard to accomplish (well, one of a few things, but one of them nonetheless) and Blackbeard wasn't a man who fancied working hard for stuff: he usually just let everything up to fate.

So having _kids (as he called them)_ pretending like fate was against Blackbeard was something unforgivable.

Gray seemed ready to fight when he said such words, and told his men to aprehend the trio, but Nami put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"I can't fight, not enough to defeat _his_ men anyway, there are too many of them, and she's in no condition either," she pointed at Wendy who looked terrified and in shock and pain.

She was shaking and covering her ears, her eyes were wide and tearful.

Gray nodded and put a protective hand on each of their shoulders, in a _'won't let them separate us'_ sort of way. Nami found it rather endearing, and thought of Luffy.

His skills would have been useful there: he could have just flung them away with his rubber arms.

On second thought, Luffy would have chosen to fight.

After leaving the Galley-la company members for his crewmates to handle - whoever those people were - Blackbeard enlisted Lafitte to escort the three prisioners to a separate area of the town. They also put seastone cuffs on each of them - assuming that Gray's powers came from a Paramecia Fruit, probably.

So now they were being escorted by Blackbeard and Lafitte, and Nami couldn't control her heartbeat. She tried to repeat to herself that they'd be fine: Gray and Wendy had no problem using their powers with seastone, and Zoro and Ace were out there somewhere too. If Blackbeard decided to just imprision them and deal with them later, they'd have no problem escaping.

If the pirate decided to punish them first, however...

"Can your ice do something within that darkness of his?" Nami wondered, staring at Gray.

"ZEHAHAHAHA. Not even Aokiji's powers can do anything against mine, foolish girl," Blackbeard's loud laughter made her jump, startled, not having realized she had asked the question in a loud voice. "The skills of you two combined are useful, however. What about instead of getting rid of you, we get you with us?"

Nami frowned. Didn't he know who she was?

"Sir, she's with Strawhat's crew," Lafitte spoke, and she cursed inwardly. Him not knowing increased her chances of getting out of there, "she was in Mock Town with Strawhat and Roronoa."

Blackbeard's expression lightened up a bit - he looked interested and amused at that fact.

He reached out to touch her, and she stepped away quickly, with Gray positioning himself to fight.

Gray, however, never moved a muscle. Blackbeard's hand touched not Nami's shoulder, but the sharp side of a blade.

Nami smiled, relief running through her veins. However strong Gray was, it still felt better, safer, with another crewmate there.

"What took you so long to find us, idiot?"

"Sorry," the reply was muffled by the sword in his mouth, "got lost."


End file.
